Royal Bank of Canada Unveils Global Branding Strategy; New Brand Name Reflects Growing U.S. Presence

Business Wire, August 20, 2001

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 20, 2001

Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE,TSE:RY) announced today that the company's expanding financial services businesses in the U.S. will all adopt a new brand, using the letters "RBC" and a newly designed logo.

The move is part of a worldwide corporate marketing initiative to introduce a consistent and more integrated brand for RBC's global operations. Effective immediately, the financial services company's new master corporate brand name is RBC Financial Group, and the letters "RBC" become the umbrella under which the company's personal and commercial banking, investment banking, wealth management, global transaction services, and insurance businesses will operate.

"Royal Bank's existing logo is one of the most widely recognized and trusted corporate icons in Canada," said Gordon Nixon, president and chief executive of RBC Financial Group. "We want to build on that tradition and establish a uniform look and identity for our growing and diverse financial services operations in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world. Our goal is to have the new logo universally recognized as a symbol of strength, innovation, and integrity with customers, employees and investors everywhere."

RBC Financial Group has been growing its presence in the U.S. and in selected international markets, and now has more than one-third of its cash earnings, 12,000 employees, and nearly two million clients outside of Canada.

As a result of RBC's global marketing strategy, changes in the U.S. include:

-- RBC's U.S. investment banking operations, RBC Dominion Securities, and RBC
Dain Rauscher Wessels, the Minneapolis-based investment bank RBC acquired
earlier this year, will be integrated under the brand name RBC Capital Markets
effective November 1;

-- Dain Rauscher's brokerage arm and Fixed Income Capital Markets business will
be called RBC Dain Rauscher effective November 1, subject to legal and
regulatory clearance;

-- Centura Banks Inc., a Rocky Mount, NC-based personal and commercial bank, is
now called RBC Centura;

-- Prism Financial Corp., a Chicago-based mortgage origination company, is now
called RBC Prism;

-- Prism Builder Finance Group, a Houston-based homebuilder financing company,
is now called RBC Builder Finance; and

-- Liberty Life Insurance Company, Greenville, SC, is now called RBC Liberty
Insurance.

Plans are to begin implementing the new signage immediately.

Outside North America, former Royal Trust offices in London, Singapore, Tokyo, Dubai, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, including the former Perpetual Fund Services of Australia, will now fall under the RBC Global Services platform. In addition, RBC Royal Bank of Canada will be used in the Caribbean and some other international markets.

RBC's lion and globe symbol was first introduced in 1962 to underscore the company's increasing global presence. It was further refined in 1974. The logo, known affectionately as "Leo" was modified again this year to reflect a more modern style and global image.

RBC Financial Group is the brand name for Royal Bank of Canada (TSE, NYSE:RY) and its subsidiaries. Royal Bank is Canada's largest bank as measured by market capitalization and assets, and is one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies. It provides personal and commercial banking, wealth management services, insurance, corporate and investment banking, and transaction processing services on a global basis. The company employs more than 58,000 people who serve more than 12 million personal, business and public sector customers in North America and in some 30 countries around the world. For more information, please visit www.royalbank.com.

PLEASE NOTE:

Images for print:

Visit www.royalbank.com/newsroom to download .tif files of the old and new logos.

Images for broadcast:

CNW satellite feed today at 13:00 - 13:30 (ET) Co-ordinates:

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Available on Dome Transmit 1, DPA-18