The bank's first-quarter earnings arrive amid continuing challenges posed by COVID-19
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has posted its financial results for 2022’s first quarter, revealing net income of $4.1 billion during that period – a 6% year-over-year increase.
The bank said that its net income had risen by $248 million in the quarter ending January 31 compared with the same time last year, driven by robust earnings in its Personal & Commercial Banking and Wealth Management sectors.
It noted that strong business volume growth and double-digit residential mortgage growth thanks to housing activity had helped spur higher net interest income in Canadian Banking.
Solid performances in those areas helped compensate for the fact that the bank’s Capital Markets earnings dropped from their record first-quarter numbers posted in 2021, with Insurance and Investor & Treasury Services also seeing a year-over-year decrease.
RBC said that its pre-provision, pre-tax earnings of $5.5 billion marked a 10% increase over last year, with that performance mainly due to higher average fee-based client assets, record investment banking revenue and higher net interest income.
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In comments accompanying the banking giant’s news release, president and chief executive officer Dave McKay said that its first-quarter performance in 2022 showed the “significant momentum” it was building despite uncertain times amidst the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is a testament to our scale, diversified business model, and strategic investments in technology, talent and innovation to create differentiated value for our clients and shareholders,” he said.
“While the Omicron variant has created headwinds to the global economic recovery over the past quarter, RBC employees remained unwavering in their commitment to supporting our clients and communities.”
McKay said that the bank’s priority would remain its “Purpose-led” approach to delivering products and services in a changing world, “while also accelerating our commitments to enable a sustainable and inclusive future.”
