- Doug Guzman to become Deputy
Chair, RBC
- Neil McLaughlin to become Group
Head, RBC Wealth Management
- Erica Nielsen to become Group
Head, RBC Personal Banking
- Sean Amato-Gauci to become Group
Head, RBC Commercial Banking
- Jennifer Publicover to become
Group Head, RBC Insurance
- Personal & Commercial Banking to become two standalone
business segments: Personal Banking and Commercial Banking
TORONTO, July 11,
2024 /CNW/ - Royal Bank of Canada (TSX: RY) and (NYSE: RY) today
announced a number of key executive appointments to accelerate its
next phase of growth and further strengthen the organization's
focus on clients, following the transformative acquisition of HSBC
Bank Canada. These changes, effective September 1, 2024, better position RBC to
take advantage of its scale, speed up decision making and elevate
leaders to deliver on strategic growth priorities with clients at
the centre.
"I'm personally energized by the opportunity to work with these
extraordinary leaders in the coming years as they take on new roles
and responsibilities on our Group Executive leadership team," said
Dave McKay, President and Chief
Executive Officer, RBC. "The unique skills, experiences and
perspectives they bring to the table will be invaluable as we
embark on our next phase of growth and further deepen trusted
client relationships across all our businesses."
In addition to the executive appointments, given the significant
growth in Personal & Commercial Banking (P&CB), RBC
announced this business will become two standalone segments,
effective for the fourth quarter of 2024. As RBC has over 15
million clients, including a growing base of commercial clients,
the new structure is designed to better respond to evolving client
needs and further differentiate the bank in the market. With this
change, RBC Direct Investing will move to the Wealth Management
segment.
Doug Guzman, currently
Group Head, RBC Wealth Management and Insurance, will become Deputy
Chair, RBC. In his new capacity, Mr. Guzman will remain a
member of the Group Executive (GE), reporting to Mr. McKay. He will
advise on enterprise priorities and provide senior RBC coverage to
some of the bank's most important individual, family, corporate,
institutional and government clients.
"We are indebted to Doug for the pivotal role he has played
leading RBC Wealth Management and Insurance over the last nine
years. Over that period, our wealth management business, a global
leader, has grown earnings substantially, including the expansion
of our Canadian and U.S. wealth management franchises, acquisition
of Brewin Dolphin in the U.K.,
restructuring of our Investor Services business and integration of
BlueBay Asset Management. Our insurance business is also poised for
growth," said Mr. McKay. "Under his leadership, we've deepened
client relationships across the globe, gained market share and
attracted and retained some of the best talent in the
industry."
Neil McLaughlin, currently
Group Head, P&CB, will become Group Head, RBC Wealth
Management. Mr. McLaughlin will work closely with Mr. Guzman to
ensure a smooth transition of the Wealth Management segment and
support client development in the high net worth segment.
Mr. McLaughlin has been Group Head, P&CB since 2017 and
during that time he has delivered exceptional business and client
growth, and led the market across nearly all major product
categories while also achieving consistently high rankings in
customer satisfaction. Under his leadership, P&CB enhanced the
digital banking experience, including the introduction of the
digital advice platform, MyAdvisor, and continuously added more
value to clients through partnerships with leading brands and the
expansion of the Avion Rewards loyalty program to all Canadians.
His leadership was also instrumental in the successful completion
of the acquisition of HSBC Bank Canada.
"We have a bold ambition for our wealth management
businesses in the coming years," said Mr. McKay. "With Neil's deep
understanding of how to create value for clients, his unwavering
focus on strengthening client relationships and his experience
evolving our banking distribution strategy to meet clients in the
channel of their choice, he will be a tremendous asset to our
wealth management businesses. Neil is a strong integrator of
businesses and is well positioned to drive close alignment between
Wealth Management and the rest of the organization with a focus on
bringing the best of RBC to our clients."
Erica Nielsen, currently
Executive Vice President, Personal Financing Products, will become
Group Head, RBC Personal Banking, reporting to Mr. McKay. Ms.
Nielsen has held increasingly senior executive roles across RBC's
consumer businesses, which include personal banking and
investments, personal lending and home equity financing. In 2023,
she took on a broader role that included U.S. and Caribbean banking and she will retain
oversight of these businesses going forward. Her deep business
experience, strategic vision and exceptional ability to rally teams
were critical to the successful completion of the acquisition of
HSBC Bank Canada.
"Erica has deep banking expertise, great strategic insight and
ability to execute, and she's known as a culture builder and an
authentic leader who drives performance," said Mr. McKay. "She is
ideally positioned to deliver on the significant opportunities
ahead to grow client relationships through innovative partnerships
and products, including the Avion Rewards loyalty program, as well
as transform our retail distribution strategy and further enhance
RBC's industry-leading digital client experiences."
Sean Amato-Gauci,
currently Executive Vice President, Business Financial Services,
will become Group Head, RBC Commercial Banking. Mr. Amato-Gauci
joined RBC in 1995 and has held progressively senior positions
across P&CB, Group Risk Management and Finance, including
executive positions leading consumer banking, credit cards,
payments, rewards, digital, home equity financing and portfolio
management and credit strategies. Under his leadership, RBC's
commercial banking business will focus on driving growth through
delivering world-class capabilities to business clients, including
international trade finance.
"Sean brings an incredible depth of experience with a reputation
as an inventive leader who inspires high performing teams and
forges strong partnerships across the bank. He's been instrumental
in the successful integration of employees and clients through the
acquisition of HSBC Bank Canada and he is well positioned to take
our strategy to the next level for globally-connected commercial
clients with international needs," said Mr. McKay.
Additionally, RBC is appointing Jennifer Publicover to the role of Group
Head, RBC Insurance, and she will join the Group Executive
leadership team, reporting to Mr. McKay, with responsibility for
driving the strategic direction of RBC's insurance
organization.
Ms. Publicover has been CEO of RBC Insurance since 2023 where
she has developed a digitally-driven growth strategy that includes
leveraging the capabilities, relationships and channels from across
RBC. The elevation of her role will better position her to execute
on that strategy. She brings broad experience including as SVP,
Products & Strategy for RBC Wealth Management, where she played
a critical role in the acquisition of Brewin Dolphin, creating one of the largest
wealth managers in the U.K., Channel Islands and Ireland. Jennifer also has 20 years of global
experience in investment banking and capital markets.
"Jennifer is a visionary leader who brings great breadth and
depth of experience across global financial services and a wide
range of client segments from corporate to commercial, high net
worth and retail, and a proven track record of driving business
results," said Mr. McKay. "She sets ambitious goals for her teams
and excels at working together with her leaders and talent to
deliver on them. Her skills and perspectives will be an incredible
asset to our leadership team."
RBC will have five business segments for financial reporting
purposes: Personal Banking, Commercial Banking, Wealth Management,
Insurance and Capital Markets. Revised supplements with new
financial reporting will be available prior to our release of Q4
results on December 4, 2024.
About RBC
Royal Bank of Canada is a
global financial institution with a purpose-driven, principles-led
approach to delivering leading performance. Our success comes from
the 98,000+ employees who leverage their imaginations and insights
to bring our vision, values and strategy to life so we can help our
clients thrive and communities prosper. As Canada's biggest bank and one of the largest
in the world, based on market capitalization, we have a diversified
business model with a focus on innovation and providing exceptional
experiences to our more than 18 million clients in Canada, the U.S. and 27 other countries. Learn
more at rbc.com.
We are proud to support a broad range of community initiatives
through donations, community investments and employee volunteer
activities. See how at rbc.com/community-social-impact.
Caution regarding forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of certain securities laws, including the "safe
harbour" provisions of the United States Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and any applicable Canadian
securities legislation. Forward-looking statements in this press
release include, but are not limited to, statements relating to our
strategic vision and priorities, including strategic growth
priorities, our goals for maximizing client service, structural
synergies and operational efficiencies as well as our financial
reporting structure. The forward-looking information contained in
this press release is presented for the purpose of assisting the
holders of our securities and financial analysts in understanding
our strategic plans, priorities and objectives as well as the
proposed financial reporting segment realignment and related
impacts and may not be appropriate for other purposes.
Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such
as "believe", "expect", "suggest", "seek", "foresee", "forecast",
"schedule", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "goal", "commit",
"target", "objective", "plan", "outlook", "timeline" and "project"
and similar expressions of future or conditional verbs such as
"will", "may", "might", "should", "could", "can" or "would" or
negative or grammatical variations thereof.
By their very nature, forward-looking statements require us to
make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and
uncertainties, both general and specific in nature, which give rise
to the possibility that our predictions, forecasts, projections,
expectations or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that our
assumptions may not be correct, that our financial performance or
other objectives, vision and strategic goals will not be achieved,
and that our actual results may differ materially from such
predictions, forecasts, projections, expectations or
conclusions.
We caution readers not to place undue reliance on our
forward-looking statements as a number of risk factors could cause
our actual results to differ materially from the expectations
expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors – many
of which are beyond our control and the effects of which can be
difficult to predict – include, but are not limited to: credit,
market, liquidity and funding, insurance, operational, regulatory
compliance (which could lead to us being subject to various legal
and regulatory proceedings, the potential outcome of which could
include regulatory restrictions, penalties and fines), strategic,
reputation, legal and regulatory environment, competitive, model,
systemic risks and other risks discussed in the risk sections of
our annual report for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2023 (the 2023 Annual Report) and the
Risk management section of our Q2 2024 Report to Shareholders, and
our ability to anticipate and successfully manage risks arising
from all of the foregoing factors. Additional factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations in
such forward-looking statements can be found in the risk sections
of our 2023 Annual Report and the Risk management section of our Q2
2024 Report to Shareholders, as may be updated by subsequent
quarterly reports.
We caution that the foregoing list of risk factors is not
exhaustive and other factors could also adversely affect our
results. When relying on our forward-looking statements to make
decisions with respect to us, investors and others should carefully
consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and
potential events, as well as the inherent uncertainty of
forward-looking statements.
Except as required by law, we do not undertake to update any
forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be
made from time to time by us or on our behalf.
SOURCE Royal Bank of Canada