Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is in talks with bidders for selling parts of its Caribbean wealth-management operations that it is exiting as part of a pullback in the Caribbean and Latin America.
The bidders for some of the Caribbean assets include Toronto-based Cidel Financial Group, The Wall Street Journal reported citing two people familiar with the matter.
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The bank is being advised by Ernst & Young in the matter.
A spokeswoman said via an email, "As previously stated, we are considering a number of strategic options for our Caribbean wealth management operations including, where possible, identifying interested parties to purchase operations or refer our clients."
Sources familiar with the matter said that at present, the bank is in talks to sell its Caribbean-based trust business, though any deal would not include a sale of the bank’s Caribbean brokerage business mostly serving North American clients.
In November, the lender announced closure of its wealth-management offices in the Caribbean to focus on wealth management in North America, the UK and Asia.
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By GlobalDataThe bank reportedly has also moved to shut down several of its wealth-management offices across Latin America, triggered by scrutiny of potential money-laundering activities in its accounts in at least three countries.
According to a person familiar with the matter, RBC is exiting the Caribbean and Latin America as the potential money-laundering risks outweigh the profits made by the bank in the region.
The bank has already begun closing offices in Chile, Brazil and Uruguay, as well as shut down offices in Miami and Houston that served wealth-management clients in Latin America and Mexico.
