Billion Dollar profit for RBC this Quarter

On Thursday, Royal Bank of Canada chief executive Gordon Nixon said his bank's results “reflect the strength of our Canadian businesses and demonstrate the value of our diversified business model.”

We recently featured Gordon Nixon in a video, from the Canadian Business Leadership Forum.
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Gordon Nixon: "It was just so unrelenting"

Gordon Nixon: 'It was just so unrelenting'

What's a banker to do? On the heels of a disastrous year, Canada's big banks are being pressured to both step up lending and boost capital levels. As RBC's chief executive officer tells Tara Perkins, it was - one hopes - a once in a lifetime year, valuable lessons were learned and the sector is better prepared for the challenges ahead.

Many executives will remember 2008 as among the most stressful years in their career, but none more so than banking executives.

The world's banking system was brought to its knees this fall. For Gordon Nixon, CEO of the country's biggest bank, that meant being on constant guard for the next potential crisis and taking action to reduce the bank's exposure to it.

This month, Mr. Nixon decided to bolster the bank's protective defences by raising $2.3-billion in common equity to boost its capital levels. Moves by Canada's big banks to increase capital have been criticized by Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, who along with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is urging the banks to step up lending. But the banks are facing pressure to do the opposite. Like its counterparts around the world, the bank is increasing its provisions for bad debts because it appears consumers and businesses will struggle in 2009. But Mr. Nixon says Canada heads into this period in a much better position than previous downturns.

The Rest of the article: Globe and Mail

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Neil Skelding

President and Chief Executive Officer - RBC Insurance

As President & CEO of RBC Insurance, Neil Skelding has global responsibility for RBC Financial Group's insurance businesses, including life and health, home and auto and travel insurance as well as reinsurance. He was appointed to his current position in September 2004.

RBC Insurance provides insurance solutions to more than five million North American customers. Mr Skelding joined RBC Insurance in January 2003 as executive vice-president, Life Operations, and also served as President and CEO of RBC Life Insurance Company.

Prior to working for RBC Insurance, Mr. Skelding held a number of senior positions in the Canadian insurance industry with Transamerica Life Canada , Money Concepts, Aegon Dealer Services, Zurich Canada and World Travel Protection.

Mr. Skelding has a bachelor of technology in mechanical engineering and an MBA in Finance. He is also a member of the Board of Governors of North York General Hospital and is on the Principal's Advisory Council for the University of Toronto ( Mississauga campus).

Mr. Skelding is chair of the Canadian Association of Financial Institutions in Insurance (CAFII) and is also a director with the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA).

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Gordon Nixon

President and Chief Executive Officer - RBC Financial Group

Gordon Nixon is president and chief executive officer of RBC Financial Group, the brand name for Royal Bank of Canada and its subsidiaries. He is also a director of Royal Bank of Canada and chairman of RBC's Group Executive.

Mr. Nixon began his career in 1979 at Dominion Securities in Toronto where he worked in Global Markets and subsequently the Investment Banking division. In 1986, he transferred to Tokyo to assume responsibility for the firm's operations in Japan. Dominion Securities was acquired by Royal Bank of Canada in 1987 and Mr. Nixon returned to Toronto in 1989 as a Managing Director of Investment Banking. In 1995, Mr. Nixon was appointed head of Global Investment Banking and in 1999 became Chief Executive officer of RBC Capital Markets and a member of Royal Bank's Executive Committee. He was appointed President of Royal Bank of Canada on April 1, 2001 and Chief Executive Officer on August 1, 2001.

Mr. Nixon is Chairman of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, and is on the Board of Directors of The Hospital for Sick Children, the International Monetary Conference and MaRS Discovery District for which he will become Chairman in 2009. He is also on the Canadian Advisory Boards of Daimler/Chrysler, Catalyst and Queen's University School of Business.

In 2007 Mr. Nixon was invested into the Order of Ontario and was the recipient of Canada's Outstanding CEO of the Year Award. He has an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Queen's University, and is a recipient of the CIJA/UJA Words and Deeds Leadership Award, the Rotary Foundation's Paul Harris Fellowship, a Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal, a Learning Partnership Champion of Public Education Tribute and an American Banker Innovator of the Year Award. Born in Montreal in 1957, Mr. Nixon attended Queen's University where he received an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree. He and his wife live in Toronto and have three children.

Rank:1

Age:49

Tenure:5 yrs., 10 mos.

Salary:$1.4 mil

Bonus:$5 mil

Gordon Nixon received $14.9 million in total compensation last year, the most ever paid to a Canadian bank CEO. But Canada's largest bank also had a record 2006 under his leadership, earning a $4.7-billion profit, the biggest yet for a Canadian bank. The Montreal-born, Queen's University — educated Nixon led the growth by signing off on five U.S. acquisitions, including the first retail takeovers since fall 2003, when the bank paid US$80 million for a group of Florida branches owned by Provident Financial Group. On tap? Nixon said in March he wants to continue finding even more American banks to buy.

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