Shareholders of Royal Bank of Alberta (RBC) are concerned over the bank’s exposure to oil and gas following an increase in bad loans for 1Q16. As we have previously noted, RBC is one of the largest lenders to oil and gas companies in Alberta and has a large consumer loan book in the oil producing area of Canada, which has been impacted by thousands of job losses. In February, the bank warned that impaired loans to oil and gas firms had almost doubled from the previous quarter; shareholders are concerned this could worsen over the remainder of 2016.
Shareholders of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) are concerned over the bank’s exposure to oil and gas following an increase in bad loans for 1Q16. As we have previously noted, RBC is one of the largest lenders to oil and gas companies in Canada and has a large consumer loan book in the oil producing area of Alberta, which has been impacted by thousands of job losses. In February, the bank warned that impaired loans to oil and gas firms had almost doubled from the previous quarter; shareholders are concerned this could worsen over the remainder of 2016.