Previously named Merchant’s Bank of Halifax, the Royal Bank of Canada was instituted by 134 Halifax businessmen in 1869. Its name was later changed in 1901. In 1941, RBC became the largest bank in Canada moving directly parallel to Canada’s economy. With its headquarter based in Toronto, RBC now caters to 16 million diverse clienteles in need of different services as intended from the nature of the organization’s business. RBC offers a wide array of business product portfolio carefully laid under the organization’s five business segments. The Company is manned by 79,000 diverse and competent workforce capable of addressing the needs and concerns of its 16 million customers in 1,209 branches scattered worldwide. Today, RBC lives by the image of being a leader in Canadian banking industry generating the most number in terms of market share.
The Royal Bank of Canada has become a household name as it strives to live by its vision statement of always earning the right to be their client’s first choice. However, RBC is without a specific mission statement. Rather, the Company has three strategic goals standing in place of its mission statement. This strategic goals is stated as, “In Canada, to be the undisputed leader in financial services; globally to be a leading provider of capital markets, investor and wealth management solutions, and in targeted markets to be the leading provider of select financial services.” In the review of the Company’s vision and mission statement it was found that the said statements needs to be modified to fit the criteria specified under Erica Olsen and Fred David’s Framework for an Effective Vision and Mission Statement. T
he proponents of this paper proposed that the vision statement be modified according to the following wordings: “To become the highest rated financial services firm globally - Always earning the right to be our clients’ first choice by providing an exceptional experience and serving our clients in a professional, ethical and responsible manner, and to be the foundation of a stable financial future for those we serve.” However for the mission statement, the proponents hereby suggest one in the following wordings, “To provide businesses and individual’s access to the highest quality financial services in the industry. To grow our business in a way that benefits not only our shareholders, but our employees, our customers and the communities in which we do business. To treat our employees with fairness and respect and encourage personal growth and learning. To build the future by promoting financial literacy for children and youth around the world. To be the most trusted source for financial expertise.” The recommendations are given in order to satisfy the criteria specified under Olsen and David’s Framework for an Effective Vision and Mission Statement.
In this report, the proponents center on personal banking as a specific segment under review. This segmented was selected because it is the Royal Bank of Canada’s biggest business segment amongst the five enumerated as personal and commercial, insurance, wealth management, international banking and market capital. At present, the personal banking sector in Canada is enjoying the rewards of technological innovations being incorporated into the banking system. The personal banking segment from Canada’s banking industry is currently being catered in all of its 1,209 branches worldwide particularly centering on Canada, the Caribbean and the United States. Personal banking segment is under the direct supervision and management of Jennifer Troy.
The Canadian banking clientele has significantly matured over the years. Following the recent global recession, the country has suffered less severely as the other neighboring countries. The industry accounts this for their ability to learn significantly from their experiences in the past. For 25 years, the Canadian housing industry has been suffering from significant losses and poor performance. In fact, for the last 25 years the amount that people pay for availing of their house is 3.5% the average of their disposable income, even increasing to 4.5% in the very recent year. Significantly, this would naturally affect the debt-to-income ratio. As a response, Canadian consumers became very discerning and began putting more to the amount of equity thereby creating stable arrears to the total number of mortgages.
When the Canadian consumers realized that the implication of the recession could put them exposed to a high amount of debts given their very mediocre income, they began to consider the odds and weigh in their option. Hence, majority of Canadians have translated this to something productive and apportion a lot of their earnings to paying their debts. It could be assessed that the Canadians way of thinking or the culture of the country puts more weight on the future that the comfort of the present. In relation to this, a survey conducted by the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada highlights that majority of Canadians (81%) thinks that Canadian banks are more stable than any others and 76% believes that Canadian banks help contribute to the improvement of the success of the economy.
Work Cited
Royal Bank of Canada. About Us: Royal Bank of Canada. 23 October 1995. Web. 25 November 2014.
—. "Royal Bank of Canada: Annual Report 2011." March 2012. Royal Bank of Canada Website. Web. 25 October 2014.
—. Vision and Values: Royal Bank of Canada. 17 March 2014. Web. 25 October 2014.
The National Bank of Canada . 2013 Annual Report: The National Bank of Canada . 10 December 2013. Web. 27 November 2014.
