The Royal Bank of Canada, the most valuable company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, revealed quarterly results on Thursday that showed profits increased by $295 million to $3.9 billion, as just about all divisions of the bank's multifaceted business showed growth.
The bank all but telegraphed its intentions to trim staff earlier this summer, as CEO Dave McKay told analysts in May that it had over-hired in recent months.During three months from the start of May until the end of July, RBC said it trimmed about one per cent of its workforce. "We expect to further reduce [staffing] by approximately one-to-two per cent next quarter," the bank said.The bank finished the quarter with 93,753 full-time equivalent staff.
"It's a lot of wage inflation is what's hurting them, not necessarily just the amount of people," he told CBC News in an interview Thursday. "Now the economy is slowing quite a bit faster than many anticipated, so they need to adjust."Overall, the bank took in just over $14.4 billion in revenue during the quarter, an increase of almost 20 per cent from just over $12 billion for the same period last year.
While profits increased at the bank's core personal and commercial lending business, in its insurance unit and its capital markets arm, they shrank somewhat at the wealth management business.