Royal Bank quarterly profit up 12%, enough to push annual profit to record $11.5B
Profit up but bank also set aside less money to cover loans that went bad
Profit at the Royal Bank of Canada increased by 12 per cent in its fiscal fourth quarter, enough to push its annual net income to an all-time record of $11.47 billion.
Canada's largest lender earned $2.84 billion in the three-month period ending on Oct. 31, led by double-digit increases in personal and commercial banking, wealth management and capital markets.
"We had a great year in 2017, with record earnings of $11.5 billion, driven by robust growth across our businesses," RBC president and CEO Dave McKay said in a statement Wednesday.
Backstopping the profit increase, overall revenue was higher, up 12.3 per cent to $10.52 billion for the quarter from $9.36 billion a year earlier.
RBC's wealth management and capital markets divisions saw the largest jumps in quarterly profit with net income of $491 million and $584 million, up 24 per cent and 21 per cent, respectively, from the same period a year ago.
The bank also set aside less money for bad loans with credit-loss provisions coming in at $234 million during the quarter, down from $358 million a year earlier.
Earlier this month, the bank was named to a list of the world's most systemically important banks.