We are proud of our history of over 115 years in the Caribbean region and the relationships we have forged with our clients, our communities, and other stakeholders over the years. We offer dedicated financial services in 10 countries and territories across the Caribbean, including The Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos Islands in the North, to Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados in the South. The bank also has branches on the five Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, and Sint Maarten. With more than 2,800+ employees RBC Caribbean Banking is serving more than half a million clients, and has its regional headquarters based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
RBC is positioned to give customers access to an expanded network of international financial services with a broader range of products and greater geographic reach.
Our Caribbean History
In June 2008, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) acquired RBTT Financial Group (RBTT) creating RBC Financial Caribbean, one of the most extensive banking networks in the Caribbean.
As one of the Caribbean’s leading diversified financial services companies, RBC provides personal and commercial banking, wealth management, corporate and investment banking, insurance and trust and asset management services to a wide range of clients, including individuals, small businesses, general commercial entities, regional and multi-national corporations and governments.
At RBC, our greatest assets enter and leave our offices every day. We are fortunate to have the best and the brightest serving our clients, working together to deliver on our strategy, and creating value and growth for our shareholders.
View our Audited Financial StatementsSea-going trade
RBC’s history in the Caribbean goes back a long way. In fact, the Bank established branches in the Caribbean before some of Canada's western provinces.
RBC’s roots began when a group of merchants from Halifax, Nova Scotia who were engaged in the thriving sea-going trade between Halifax and the West Indies formed the Merchant's Bank in 1864. In those days Canadian southbound ships carried mainly flour, codfish and timber, returning north with their cargoes of sugar, rum, cotton and spices.
Through branches established in all major trade centres in the Caribbean, RBC offered valuable facilities for promoting trade.
Early days
RBC’s first venture south was to Bermuda in 1882, followed by Cuba in 1899. In 1908 RBC opened its first branch in Nassau, The Bahamas. By 1914, the Bank’s Caribbean network included Puerto Rico, The Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Barbados, Belize, and Grenada. In that same year, RBC purchased British Guiana Bank that had opened in 1836. By 1984 the Bank had opened a total of 15 branches in Guyana (formerly British Guiana) but in November 1984 RBC ceased to operate there. The Bio-diversity Centre in Georgetown, created to study Guyana's largely intact rain forest, was built with funds from RBC's operations in Guyana, since foreign exchange restrictions made it impossible to take them out of the country.
Expanding through the Caribbean
In 1915, branches were established in three Eastern Caribbean islands - Dominica, Antigua and St. Kitts. Between 1917 and 1920 the bank opened branches in Nevis, Montserrat, Tobago, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti and St. Lucia. Branches were subsequently opened in St. Vincent in 1959 and Grand Cayman in 1964.
By 1996, RBC, or its subsidiaries, had consolidated its operations with 1,190 employees in Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and St. Lucia. In 2002, management of the entire area of eight countries and 14 islands was moved to Nassau, Bahamas from Toronto, Canada, with a regional office in Barbados. In 2008, RBC completed the purchase of RBTT Financial Group and created one of the most extensive banking networks in the Caribbean.
