RBC Capital Markets Seems Primed for Hiring

Royal Bank of Canada's capital markets unit isn't finished nabbing talent from other banks to fuel its global expansion. On the heels of robust first-quarter earnings, RBC's already announced the hires of three new investment bankers for its industry groups in New York.

RBC's capital-markets division earned C$613 million, or 7 percent more than a year ago, and saw a 64 percent improvement from the previous quarter due to higher trading revenue, new issue activity - particularly debt financings - and higher loan-syndication fees.

Over the past year, the bank had already added more than 100 bankers in the U.S., taking its U.S. investment banking staff to 350. While hiring is seen leveling off, the company's fundamentals remain strong and expansion continues.

"There will not be repeat of the volume we had last year, but our U.S. hiring is far from done. We are looking to expand virtually every industry group," said Blair Fleming, RBC Capital Markets' head of US investment banking.

The 64 percent net income rise was driven by higher trading revenue and strong growth in U.S. as well as Canadian investment banking, the bank says.

Earlier this month, RBC appointed investment bankers Bill Detwiler, Paul Milcetic and P.A. Weiner as managing directors to expand its U.S. investment banking business in the areas of entertainment, metals and mining, and financial technology and transaction processing.

Detwiler was hired from Royal Bank of Scotland Group after 17 years in the media area, including stints at JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank.

Milcetic has 20 years' experience including a decade at Credit Suisse. Weiner has more than two decades of experience, including 15 years at Deutsche Bank.