Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is slashing 15 investment banking jobs in the UK, joining global banks that are adjusting to a slowdown in mergers and acquisitions activity, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Global investment banks have reduced headcount to trim costs after reporting declines in profit this year.
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The investment-banking cuts at the Canadian lender represent a reversal from recent years’ advance where the investment banking arm of RBC, RBC Capital Markets, was a top-ranked Merger adviser and a main profit source for the bank among the other operating segments. The unite has previously made a series of senior hires in Europe, where it employs around 200 people in the division.
RBC Capital Markets provides a focused set of products and services to corporations, institutional investors, and governments around the world. The bank operates out of 70 offices in 15 countries across North America, the U.K., Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
Completed mergers in Europe dropped 19 percent to $484 billion so far this year, while equity offerings in worldwide have declined about 65 percent, Thomson Reuters data shows.
Besides Royal Bank of Canada, many Western banks have announced plans to scale down their operations in the UK this year, as they grapple with slowing revenue growth due to the sluggish economy growth in China, freefall of oil prices and post-Brexit results.
Lower oil prices motivated also the departure of Nick Taylor, head of natural resources at EMEA region, who joined from Deutsche Bank 18 months ago, as well as a few junior bankers in the team will leave the bank.
Operating since 1869, Royal Bank of Canada is one of the top 15 largest banks in the world as measured by market capitalization.
