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Moody’s Investors Service has announced that it:

has today placed on review for upgrade all long-term ratings and assessments of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), including the a3 standalone baseline credit assessment (BCA), the Aa2 deposit rating and Counterparty Risk Rating, and the Aa2(cr) Counterparty Risk Assessments. The bank’s Prime-1 short term ratings and Prime-1(cr) short-term Counterparty Risk Assessment were affirmed.
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RBC’s strong credit profile reflects its position as a diversified universal bank with leading market shares across many retail products and services in its home market and a growing presence in the US through its California-based private and commercial bank, City National Bank (LT deposits Aa3 stable, BCA a2), which RBC acquired in 2015. RBC’s diversified business mix, which also includes a major commitment to capital markets, and wealth and asset management businesses, has extended the bank’s competitive advantage over many of its peers. This business mix has also produced a sturdy buffer against the greater volatility of RBC’s capital markets activity through various economic cycles. The steady profitability generated by RBC’s businesses enables the bank to consistently reinvest to drive organic business growth as well as develop leading digital customer solutions and capabilities, further supporting its strong competitive position.
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RBC’s a3 BCA could be upgraded if Moody’s assesses that the bank will likely continue to demonstrate a resilient operating performance that reflects a superior diversity of business mix relative to many similarly rated global peers, and stability in its risk profile , while maintaining its capital level above 12% tangible common equity as a percentage of risk-weighted assets. A higher BCA would likely lead to a ratings upgrade. The ratings could be confirmed at their existing level should the bank’s earnings and capital base not demonstrate the level of resilience expected by Moody’s when stressed under various scenarios.

The review for upgrade indicates that rating downgrades are unlikely over the next 12-18 months. However, RBC’s a3 BCA could be downgraded if the bank increases risk appetite leading to credit quality deterioration or the bank increased the size of its capital markets operations relative to its retail and commercial banking businesses. A significant further deterioration in the domestic operating environment or any material regulatory, compliance or risk management failures could also lead to a downgrade of the bank’s BCA. A lower BCA would likely lead to a ratings downgrade.

Affected issues are: RY.PR.H, RY.PR.J, RY.PR.M, RY.PR.N, RY.PR.O, RY.PR.P, RY.PR.S and RY.PR.Z .

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 12th, 2021 at 9:08 pm and is filed under Issue Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.