Royal Bank of Canada said today it planned to “aggressively” grow its wealth management business outside of its own borders, following a decision in February to separate wealth management into its own business segment for reporting purposes.

George Lewis, RBC head of the wealth management operations, said he planed "aggressive growth" in revenue and earnings outside of Canada, during an investor presentation on Wednesday.

President and chief executive of the largest bank in Canada, Gord Nixon, said: "We view wealth management as a good global opportunity," at the presentation addressing analysts and investors.

Mr Nixon spoke of the bank’s decision to rearrange its business lines for reporting purposes.

"We believe that by creating the wealth management structure, it will give us the ability to be more focused in terms of driving wealth management investment and growth outside of Canada,” he said.

Results for its new wealth management segment, one of four divisions, will appear in the bank's second-quarter results, due for release May 25.

The bank announced in February an overall net income for the first quarter this year of C$1.49 billion.