City National joins Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada’s acquisition of City National Bank, which has three branches in northern Nevada, will create banking opportunities for City’s customers, a spokesman said.

Paul Stowell, senior vice president for marketing at the bank’s Nevada division, said the company will continue to operate under the City National name and will not be subject to any changes — only enhancements.

The merger makes City National Bank’s 3,800 employees part of the 12th largest bank holding company in the world in terms of deposits.

“This will be huge for our company and for our customers,” Stowell said. “It allows us to expand our services and grow not only in Nevada but throughout the country.” In addition to northern Nevada, City also operates five branches in southern Nevada.

The transaction, announced in January, is a $5 billion cash and stock deal. RBC is making the acquisition to boost its services for wealthy clients.

RBC will combine its U.S. wealth management unit and City National into one line of business to be reported as part of the RBC wealth management segment. City National CEO Russell Goldsmith will lead the combined line of business from Los Angeles, where City National is headquartered and where it will continue to operate.

Closer to home, it’s business as usual for the private and business bank, which has branches in Reno, Carson City and Minden.

“Our name, products, clients’ accounts and staffing levels all remain the same,” said Stowell of the bank, which counts many business owners and high net worth individuals. The combined companies will have roughly 2,100 financial advisors in the United States and U.S.-based client assets of $336 billion in wealth and asset management.

Royal Bank of Canada employs about 79,000 employees who serve more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 38 other countries.