RBC to Expand Canada Dominance With $10 Billion HSBC Deal
- HSBC Canada unit to give RBC 130 branches, business clients
- Sale gives HSBC potential to return cash to shareholders
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Royal Bank of Canada agreed to buy HSBC Holdings Plc’s Canadian unit -- the country’s seventh-largest bank -- for C$13.5 billion ($10 billion) in cash, expanding its roster of business clients and bulking up its retail presence on the West Coast as HSBC focuses on Asia.
The purchase gives Royal Bank, already Canada’s largest bank by assets, about 130 more branches, including about 45 in the West Coast province of British Columbia. The Toronto-based company also gains a significant commercial-banking franchise, with many of the clients in industries that trade and bank internationally.