Granting of banking licence to Royal Bank of Canada

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced today (Monday) that the Monetary Authority has granted a banking licence to Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) under the Banking Ordinance. This grant of banking licence took effect on 5 December 2003.

RBC is a bank incorporated in Canada. According to The Banker, July 2003 issue, RBC was the largest bank in Canada and the 51^st largest bank in the world in terms of both tier one capital and total assets.

With the grant of a banking licence to RBC, the number of licensed banks in Hong Kong has increased to 134.

For further enquiries, please contact:

Kevin Ip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
8 December 2003