Wealth management, part of the Personal and Business grouping at Royal Bank of Canada, was strongly to the fore in the last quarter and year...

Wealth management, part of the Personal and Business grouping at Royal Bank of Canada, was strongly to the fore in the last quarter and year-end figures.

In the home market, revenue was up 17 per cent to C$2.69 billion ($2.5 billion) from C$2.3 billion for the year and up 12 per cent to C$692 million from C$619 million for the quarter. This result was fuelled by better spreads on personal investment products, strong net sales and capital appreciation in mutual funds and continued growth in fee-based accounts.

In the US and international markets, wealth management revenue was up 9 per cent from C$1.65 billion to C$1.8 billion for the year and 15 per cent to C$466 million for the quarter.

In great measure, this reflected the inclusion of Channel Islands-based Abacus Financial Services, acquired in late 2005, along with higher securities brokerage commissions in global private banking and growth in fee-based client assets at RBC Dain Rauscher.

Overall, RBC reported a 40 per cent increase in net income to C$4.73 billion on revenue 8 per cent up at C$20.6 billion.