RBC Shares Details of Its Sale to Eastern Caribbean Indigenous Banks

The Royal Bank of Canada has shared some details of the sale of its branches in the Eastern Caribbean including Montserrat.

According to news reports RBCFinancial (Caribbean) received $65.86 million in consideration for the sale of the11 branches in the seven jurisdictions.

But, in the notes to its 2022 financials, the bank disclosed that as a result of the transaction, a loss on sale of 90 million dollars is attributed to parent, RBC Financial(Caribbean) Ltd, including the allocation of goodwill of 31 million dollars,which was recorded in the consolidated statement of income.

RBC reduced its foot printin the Caribbean in 2021.

On April 1, 2021, it received the required approvals from local governments and from the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank for the sale of its Eastern Caribbean banking operations.

That sale included RBC’s 11branches in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

RBC’s former head of Caribbean Banking, Rob Johnston, said in the April 1, 2021 news release that the transaction will allow RBC to align investments and resources into markets where its vision for being the Caribbean’s digitally-enabled relationship bank can be executed most-successfully.

He said the sale of RBC’s Eastern Caribbean banking operations to indigenous banks is also a critical step forward in strengthening the domestic financial services sectors in each of the countries and territories involved, as this will help create a stronger climate for further growth, development, and prosperity.

RBC sold its Eastern Caribbean banking operations to a consortium of regional banks comprising 1stNational Bank of St Lucia, Antigua Commercial Bank, Bank of Dominica, Bank of Montserrat, and The Bank of Nevis.