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RBC Centura completes acquisition of 39 AmSouth branches
in Alabama
RALEIGH, NC, March 9, 2007 - RBC Centura Bank announced
today that it has completed the acquisition of 39 AmSouth
Bank branches in Huntsville, Decatur, Mobile, Montgomery,
Selma and Tuscaloosa, Ala. This acquisition, which marks RBC
Centura's entry into Alabama, makes it the state's seventh
largest bank with approximately $1.5 billion in loans and
$2 billion in deposits.
"Moving into Alabama with immediate scale and assets
complements our growth strategy across the Southeast,"
said RBC Centura Chairman and CEO Scott Custer. "We are
excited to expand our banking region to six states, and we
believe Alabama is a good economic and cultural fit for the
bank. It closely resembles other dynamic markets in the Southeast
where RBC Centura has enjoyed a long-time presence and success."
The U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Reserve Board
required that the branches be divested in connection with
AmSouth's merger with Regions Financial Corporation.
About RBC Centura Bank
RBC Centura Bank, headquartered in Raleigh, NC, is a wholly
owned subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada (RY on the NYSE and
TSX) offering a wide range of financial services and advice,
including a complete line of banking, and mortgage services
to individuals, businesses and public institutions throughout
the Southeast. RBC Centura's multi-faceted customer access
network includes more than 330 full-service banking centers,
an extensive ATM network, and telephone and Internet banking.
In addition, RBC Centura offers builder finance products through
its RBC Builder Finance division. According to SNL Financial,
RBC Centura is the 46th largest U.S. bank based on assets
as of fourth quarter 2006. Additional information about RBC
Centura may be found at www.rbccentura.com.
Media Contacts:
Kristen Doherty, RBC Centura, (919) 788-6076, kristen.doherty@rbc.com
Beja Rodeck, RBC, (416) 974-5506, 1-888-880-2173, beja.rodeck@rbc.com
Investor Contacts:
Marcia Moffat, RBC, (416) 955-7803, marcia.moffat@rbc.com
Dave Mun, RBC, (416) 955-7808, dave.mun@rbc.com
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Safe Harbor Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may be
deemed to be forward-looking statements under certain securities
laws, including the "safe harbor" provisions of
the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995 and in any applicable Canadian securities legislation,
and Royal Bank of Canada ("RBC") intends that such
forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor created
thereby. The words "may," "could," "should,"
"would," "suspect," "outlook,"
"believe," "plan," "anticipate,"
"estimate," "expect," "intend,"
"forecast", "objective" and words and
expressions of similar import are intended to identify forward-looking
statements.
By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve
numerous assumptions, and inherent risks and uncertainties,
both general and specific, and risks exist that predictions,
forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements
about the acquisition of branches from AmSouth Bancorporation
("AmSouth") by RBC Centura will not be achieved.
We caution readers not to place undue reliance on these statements
as a number of important factors could cause our actual results
to differ materially from the beliefs, plans, objectives,
expectations, anticipations, estimates and intentions expressed
in such forward-looking statements. These factors include,
but are not limited to the possibility that the Alabama economy
and business spending does not continue to grow as expected,
or that the anticipated benefits of the transaction are not
realized as a result of such things as the strength of the
economy and competitive factors in the areas where the AmSouth
branches do business; the impact of changes in the laws and
regulations regulating financial services and enforcement
thereof (including banking, insurance and securities); judicial
judgments and legal proceedings; RBC Centura's ability to
integrate the AmSouth branches with RBC Centura successfully;
reputational risks, and other factors that may affect future
results of RBC including changes in trade policies, timely
development and introduction of new products and services,
changes in tax laws, and technological and regulatory changes.
We caution that the foregoing list of important factors is
not exhaustive. Additional information about other important
factors can be found under the Risk management section in
our Q1 2007 Report to Shareholders and under the Risk management
and Additional risks that may affect future results sections
in our 2006 Annual Report.
RBC assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements
contained in this press release.
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