RBC (RY on TSX and NYSE), the largest bank in Canada, today announced that it has entered the Indian market by opening its first (representative) office in the financial hub of Bandra Kurla, Mumbai.

RBC has a three pronged approach to India:

• To provide capital markets products and services including global debt funding to Indian banks and corporations;
• To provide wealth management services for high net worth individuals;
• To provide correspondent banking and trade finance services to Indian financial institutions.

“The strong growth of the Indian economy presents huge opportunities,” said Gordon M. Nixon, RBC president and chief executive officer. “RBC is committed to expanding outside North America into areas where we can show competitive strength and India is a natural choice for our strategy in Asia. India is showing an increasing demand for areas in which RBC has competitive strengths – infrastructure and project finance, energy, metals and mining, structured products, currency and bond trading, and wealth management services.”

Akhauri Sinha, country head, RBC India, will lead RBC’s overall operations in India, while Dipendarra J. Singh will lead RBC’s wealth management business with a focus on high net worth individuals, and Vikas Jambotkar will focus on providing RBC services to Indian financial institutions, as well as capital markets services to corporations.

With people from India comprising the second highest Asian immigrant population in Canada after China, RBC is now well positioned to help them invest back into India’s buoyant economy. “Indo-Canadians have made and continue to make a huge contribution to the fabric of Canadian life. Their presence and cosmopolitan imprint on our cities, especially Toronto and Vancouver, have been profound. They form an important, indeed critical, link between India and Canada,” continued Mr. Nixon.

About RBC
Royal Bank of Canada (RY on TSX and NYSE) and its subsidiaries operate under the master brand name of RBC. We are Canada’s largest bank as measured by assets and market capitalization and one of North America’s leading diversified financial services companies. We provide personal and commercial banking, wealth management services, insurance, corporate and investment banking, and transaction processing services on a global basis. We employ approximately 70,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than 15 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients throughout offices in Canada, the U.S. and 36 other countries. For more information, please visit www.rbc.com.

For further information contact:

Sobhagya PR
Sangeeta Irani, Tel: +91 9820060014, Email: sobhagyapr@rediffmail.com

RBC
Beja Rodeck, 416 974 5506, Email: beja.rodeck@rbc.com

RBC Capital Markets & RBC Wealth Management
Beverley Weber, Tel: +44 20 7029 7685, Email: beverley.weber@rbccm.com