RBC Posts Record Annual Profit While Cutting Corporate Loans

Lower provisions helped lift fourth-quarter profit by 12%
Earnings gains led by wealth management and capital markets

The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) logo is reflected on a surface in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Friday, May 19, 2017. Ontario is easing rules for its pension funds as years of low interest rates, poor equity returns and a looming retiree glut pressure companies.Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg

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By Doug Alexander

November 29, 2017 at 11:39 AM UTC

Updated on

November 29, 2017 at 4:03 PM UTC

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Royal Bank of Canada showed it can defy expectations even while being more selective in lending.

The country’s second-largest bank posted record profit of C$11.5 billion ($7.57 billion) for the fiscal year ended Oct. 31 despite shrinking its corporate-loan book to its lowest level in more than two years. Royal Bank has taken a step back in corporate lending after spending the first half of the decade pushing to gain more large clients.