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. The bank reported that it had $28.1 billion on its balance sheet as at March 31, up from $15.2 billion at the end of last year.
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.