Royal Bank of Canada today reported net income of $3,027 million for the first quarter ended January 31, 2017, up $580 million or 24% from a year ago
All amounts are in Canadian dollars and are based on financial statements prepared in compliance with International Accounting Standard 34 Interim Financial Reporting, unless otherwise noted. Our Q1 2017 Report to Shareholders and Supplementary Financial Information are available on our website at rbc.com/investorrelations.
TORONTO, February 24, 2017 - Royal Bank of Canada (RY on TSX and NYSE) today reported net income of $3,027 million for the first quarter ended January 31, 2017, up $580 million or 24% from a year ago. Results reflect strong earnings in Personal & Commercial Banking, Wealth Management, Capital Markets and Investor & Treasury Services. Our performance also reflects benefits from our ongoing focus on efficiency management activities, driving strong operating leverage across most of our business segments. Excluding our share of a gain related to the sale of the U.S. operations of Moneris Solutions Corporation (Moneris), which was $212 million (before- and after-tax), net income of $2,815 million was up $368 million or 15% from the prior year compared to last quarter, net income was up $484 million or 19%. Excluding the gain on sale as noted above, net income was up $272 million or 11%(1), mainly reflecting higher earnings across most of our business segments. Results reflect improved credit quality, with our provision for credit losses (PCL) ratio of 0.22%, down 5 basis points (bps), mainly due to lower provisions in Personal & Commercial Banking and recoveries in Capital Markets.
Our capital position was strong with a Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio of 11.0%. In addition, today we announced an increase to our quarterly dividend of $0.04 or 5% to $0.87 per share.
“RBC reported earnings of $3 billion for the first quarter reflecting strength across our businesses as we continued to invest in growth. We remain committed to returning capital to our shareholders and I’m pleased to announce a 5% increase to our quarterly dividend,” said Dave McKay, RBC President and Chief Executive Officer. “As the operating landscape evolves, we are focused on our strategy of building a digitally-enabled relationship bank to meet the changing expectations of our clients.”
