Royal Bank of Canada has acquired European-based wealth management firm Abacus Financial Services Group Ltd.

The acquisition was approved by Abacus shareholders and all relevant regulators, the two companies announced today. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

The acquisition is expected to be “virtually neutral” to Royal Bank’s earnings in 2006 and slightly accretive in 2007, the bank said.

Abacus has offices in six locations: London, Jersey, Guernsey, Edinburgh, Cheltenham and Amsterdam.

The deal provides RBC’s global private banking business with a greater presence in the British Isles, and increases its assets under administration by US$41 billion, the bank said.

The global private banking business has almost 2,000 employees in 21 countries.

Abacus, now an independent firm, says it was established in 1967 as part of Coopers & Lybrand, the predecessor to PricewaterhouseCoopers. It employs about 400 people.