By James Langton

(November 14 – 13:05 ET) – Royal Bank has set aside US$200 million to retain Dain Rauscher brokers and other employees, and it has signed employment deals with its top two executives, according to Dain’s quarterly report.

Royal Bank announced its purchase of the Minneapolis-based brokerage back in September.

The $200 million retention pool comes in the form of stock unit awards measured based on the value of Royal Bank common stock, with the number of units determined based on the average closing price of the shares on the New York Stock Exchange for the five trading days prior to its dispersal. Awards will b determined by Dain Rauscher’s CEO Irv Weiser in consultation with Royal Bank.

The bank has also entered an employment deal with Weiser that will see him remain with the new firm until Dec. 31, 2003 as chairman and CEO of RBC Dain Rauscher Wessels. He will report directly to Reay Mackay, head of Royal Investment Services.

Weiser will serve as a member of the bank’s management committee reporting directly to chairman and CEO John Cleghorn. He will oversee retail brokerage operations, online brokerage operations, traditional asset management (except the asset management business run by the global equity derivatives department of RBC Dominion Securities), correspondent clearing, operations, IT and other staff functions.

Weiser will receive an annual salary of US$300,000, a guaranteed annual bonus of US$3 million and US$6.5 million under the retention pool, awarded in three annual portions on the anniversary date of the merger. Weiser has also agreed to a three-year non-compete, non-solicitation clause.

Royal Bank has also signed a deal to keep Peter Grant as president and chief operating officer of the Equity Capital Markets Division of RBC Dain Rauscher Wessels. Grant will report directly to the CEO of Royal Bank’s Corporate and Investment Banking Division, and will also report to Weiser in the U.S.

Grant will be responsible for the research, sales, trading and investment banking activities in U.S. equity securities currently conducted by the Equity Capital Markets Division of RBC Dain Rauscher Wessels. This will include any acquisitions in this business in the U.S. and Europe.

Grant will receive an annual salary of US$200,000, a guaranteed bonus of US$3.5 million, and a US$13.5 million chunk of the retention pool.