(November 23 – 18:20 ET) – Royal Bank of Canada today issued a correction to a story headlined, “Royal hit by problem loans” in the November 22 edition of the Globe and Mail.

In a statement, the bank said that the story contained several inaccuracies and significantly misinterpreted the performance of Royal Bank’s corporate loan portfolio for fiscal 2000.

The bank said that one investment bank has already issued a strongly worded report about the article advising clients they “think the headline (is) misleading.”

Suzanne Labarge, Royal Bank vice chairman and chief risk officer reinforced comments made November 21 in a conference call with investors, analysts, and the media.

“Our total corporate loan book is stable and currently we’re not seeing anything on the horizon that should change our outlook,” said Labarge.

“As a percentage of our U.S. corporate loan book, Royal Bank’s loan loss provisions are small and compare favourably with other financial institutions,” Labarge added. “In fact, a number of research analysts have praised Royal Bank for improving its overall credit quality in fiscal 2000.”
-IE Staff