The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has released its results for the first quarter of 2024, ended Jan. 31.

The comparison with the 2023 figures for wealth management and insurance is complicated by the adjustments required by IFRS accounting standards.

In Wealth Management, net income available to common shareholders totalled $595 million in the first quarter, compared with the $818 million reported at the same date a year earlier.

Net income for this segment was down 27 per cent over the period, with more than half of the difference attributable to a special assessment of $115 million (after tax) imposed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). 

Revenues from the Wealth Management segment reached $4.5 billion in the first quarter, down 1 per cent over the same quarter last year.

Insurance  

For its insurance segment, RBC has integrated IFRS version 17, which modifies the previous year's results.

Net income attributable to common shareholders reached $219 million in the first quarter of 2024, compared with $147 million for the same period in 2023. 

Insurance revenues totaled $363 million in the first quarter of 2024, compared with $154 million in the same quarter last year. This is an increase of 136 per cent.

Premiums and deposits  

Premiums and deposits from insurance operations amounted to $1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of $107 million, or 9 per cent, over the same period in 2023. 

However, the company no longer provides a breakdown of premiums and deposits for its Canadian and international insurance activities, nor a breakdown of insurance income for its two markets. Nor does it disclose net earned premiums.

The Group  

For the first quarter of its fiscal year, RBC reported net income attributable to common shareholders of $3.6 billion. This represents an increase of 14 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2023.

Dave McKay, President and CEO of RBC, stated that the results demonstrate that the bank has “the right strategy in place.” He points to the imminent closing of the planned acquisition of HSBC Canada, scheduled for March 28.

The federal Minister of Finance, as well as Canada's Competition Bureau have given their approval to the transaction, which had an estimated value of $13.5 billion at the time of acquisition.

An overview of the transaction's impact on RBC's business should be provided in the results following the end of the next quarter, ending April 30, 2024. Mr. MacKay estimates that synergy-driven expense reductions will total $740 million, of which 20 per cent will be realized in 2024. 

As was the case for the other Canadian banks, the provision for credit losses rose by $281 million, or 53 per cent, year-on-year, to $813 million. The increase particularly applies to the Personal and Commercial Banking and Capital Markets segments.