Toronto-listed Royal Bank of Canada yesterday said net income at its wealth management business fell by C$36 million ($36.3 million) to C$156 million for the quarter ended 31 July compared with the same period a year ago.

Excluding the negative effect of C$29 million ($21 million after tax) related to certain regulatory and legal matters in the current quarter, net income fell by C$15 million or 8 per cent, largely due to lower transaction volumes reflecting continued investor uncertainty, partially offset by higher average fee-based client assets, the bank said in a statement.

Compared to last quarter, net income was down C$56 million, it said, and down C$35 million on the previous quarter.

For the banking group as a whole, RBC said its net income of C$2.24 billion for the quarter rose $946 million or 73 per cent from the prior year. Excluding certain items, net income from continuing operations was C$1.978 billion, up 18 per cent from last year and up 12 per cent from the previous quarter. These strong results were driven primarily by record earnings in Canadian banking and strong performance in capital markets.

"RBC had a record quarter with earnings of over C$2 billion, driven by exceptional growth in our Canadian retail franchise and strong investment banking results, demonstrating the earnings power of RBC and the strength of our diversified business model. This morning, we announced a 5 per cent increase in our quarterly dividend," said Gordon Nixon, RBC president and chief executive.

"RBC has strong momentum and continues to extend its leadership positions across key businesses by focusing on our clients and executing our disciplined, long-term strategy,” he said.

The firm’s Q3 results included certain items which had a favourable net impact of $262 million: a previously announced release of C$128 million of tax uncertainty provisions and interest income of $72 million; C$53 million after-tax related to a refund of taxes paid due to the settlement of several tax matters with the Canada Revenue Agency; favourable adjustment of C$125 million (C$92 million after-tax) related to a change in estimate of mortgage prepayment interest (prepayment adjustment), and a loss of C$12 million (C$11 million after-tax) related to the firm's acquisition of the remaining 50 per cent stake in RBC Dexia.