As confirmed to Funds Society by bank sources, RBC Wealth Management is in full process of reorganizing its international private banking business in the United States, a process that so far has lead to the closure of its Miami office as well as its agency in Houston, both specialized in cross border business.
That same source wished to point out that RBC shall continue to provide credit services and loans to American residents from its New York branch, while stressing that these changes affect “a very small segment of our business in the United States.”
Likewise, the source also underlined that the changes will have no impact on its growing retail broker dealer business, which is currently the eighth largest in the United States. “USA continues to be a fundamental market for the growth of RBC Wealth Management,” he said.
Finally, RBC wanted to make it quite clear that they remain operational and shall continue to serve their clients during this transition period, a period which has already started and which will continue until April 2015. During this stage, both RBC clients and employees will continue to receive timely information, which will give them enough time to make thoughtful decisions.
RBC wants to underlined too that the bank counts with International Advisory Group (IAG) that is separate from the U.S. Private Banking business. The IAG will continue to operate as a business line within WM – International, under the leadership of Ricardo Morean and will continue to leverage the infrastructure provided by the U.S. broker-dealer business to serve the investment needs of international clients from offices in the U.S.
As other sources familiar with the closure told Funds Society, the decision to close the Miami and Houston offices was reported internally last Wednesday and approximately 20 bankers have been affected: 15 of them in Miami, and five in Houston, as well as five investment specialists in New York. In Miami, where in addition to the private banking division there is a broker dealer, the bank employs around 100 people.
The international division of RBC Wealth Management serves high-net-worth (HNW) clients and a niche of corporate and institutional clients worldwide.
It should be recalled that last July RBC Wealth Management reported the closure of its office in Santiago de Chile after six years in the country and as part of a strategic review of its business in Latin America, while just over one year ago, the Canadian bank´s office announced its departure from Uruguay, also on the grounds of strategic reasons.