Royal Bank of Canada to Buy Wealth Manager Brewin Dolphin

The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has agreed to buy London-based Brewin Dolphin for $2.6 billion in Canadian dollars, (1.6 billion pounds or $2 billion), the Toronto lender announced Thursday (March 31).

Brewin Dolphin, one of the largest British wealth management firms, had nearly three dozen locations and 59 billion pounds ($77.4 billion) under management at the close of last year.

“The U.K. is a key growth market for RBC, and Brewin Dolphin provides us with an exceptional platform to significantly transform our wealth management business in the region,” Doug Guzman, group head of wealth management and insurance at RBC, said in a statement.

The purchase provides RBC with a No. 3 market position in the United Kingdom and Ireland, he said, in addition to having a strong presence in Canada.

Brewin Dolphin CEO Robin Beer said as part of RBC, it will be able to provide clients with a broader range of products and services and expand distribution channels through leveraging the bank’s global presence.

Last spring, PYMNTS reported providing a fast and simple onboarding experience is key to financial institutions’ offerings since the onset of COVID-19 sent consumers online.

But Rami Thabet, vice president of digital product at RBC, said convincing potential customers to sign up for products begins by winning their trust.

This increasingly makes ID verification part of the onboarding process into the hands of customers. RBC said it became the first Canadian lender to allow consumers to digitally verify their identities with government-supported ID documents.

“What is interesting in Canada [is that] we had always seen consumers being incredibly focused on privacy [regarding the] data and the information that is kept about them,” Thabet told PYMNTS. “The corollary to that is that FIs are among the most trustworthy institutions in Canada in the eyes of the consumer … so what we wanted to do is leverage that and reinforce that.”

Read more: How RBC Captures Consumer Trust At The Point Of Onboarding