RBC’s U.S. wealth unit defies inflow slump with asset surge

Even with a slowdown in net new inflows, RBC’s U.S. wealth management division saw its asset tally surge 12% year over year in its fiscal first quarter of 2026.

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The Toronto-based Royal Bank of Canada reported Thursday that assets under administration at RBC Wealth Management-U.S. rose to $777.2 billion from November of last year through this January, which the bank calls its first quarter.  

But net new assets flowing into the U.S. wealth management business were actually down starkly from a year ago. They fell by more than half year over year to just over $4.9 billion (reported as $6.8 billion in Canadian dollars) in the first quarter. 

Net new assets are often seen as a key gauge of wealth management firms’ success, since they measure only assets coming in from new and existing clients rather than market gains. (In a footnote to its earnings report, RBC explained it has adjusted how it calculates net new assets to include “re-invested interest, dividends, less client asset outflows, fees, commissions, and taxes.”)

Even with the falling first-quarter inflows, RBC executives saw much to applaud. All told, nearly $180 billion in assets under administration has been brought into the firm’s U.S. wealth management business over the past three years.

Speaking to analysts about the first quarter results, CEO David McKay said the firm’s asset inflows in the past 12 months in particular “benefited from market appreciation as North American equity markets rose double digits year-over-year and bond indices also moved higher.”

“In addition,” he said, “we recorded strong net new assets over the last 12 months, benefiting from clients moving back into the markets as well as continued advisor recruitment.”

READ MORE: RBC touts recruiting wins as U.S. wealth exec plans to step down

Advisor hiring and new offerings

At an investor day event last year, McKay and other executives had touted plans to hire 600 advisors over five years. In its recent earnings report, RBC reported its advisor headcount for all its wealth units rose to 6,301 in its first quarter, up by 121 from a year ago. RBC did not specify how many of those were in its U.S. wealth unit but reported last year that there were roughly 2,200 advisors in that division.

RBC’s recent recruiting victories, many of them won over UBS, include: 

McKay also noted a few new offerings for the firm’s U.S. market. They include RBC Echelon, a bevy of services designed for ultrahigh net worth clients, and GoSmart, a commission-free online trading system.

RBC reported that revenue in its U.S. wealth management was up by 12%, hitting $1.93 billion. In an investor presentation slide, the firm said the revenue number was buoyed by “higher fee-based client assets reflecting market appreciation and net new assets,” as well as “higher transactional revenues driven by client activity.”

READ MORE: Behind RBC’s record year for advisor recruiting

Cross-selling with the bank and global results

Like many wealth management firms affiliated with large banks, RBC seeks to boost its bottom line by selling bank products to wealth clients and vice versa. McKay spoke Thursday of plans to launch “U.S. mortgage and credit card products to increase penetration within a high net worth client segment in U.S. wealth management.”

Even while reporting strong results for its U.S. wealth management unit, RBC said revenue for all of its wealth businesses rose by 9% year over year to hit CA$6 billion in the first quarter. That came on CA$5.3 billion of assets under administration (up 9% year over year), of which nearly CA$1.6 billion was assets under management (up 11%). The wealth units’ noninterest expenses were up 4% year over year to nearly CA$4.4 billion, in part because of “higher variable compensation commensurate with increased results” and “higher staff costs.”