RBC Positioned to Take Advantage of Real Estate Developments

**RBC Royal Bank of Canada** has launched a Real Estate Division, headed by a five-member team.

The team includes: F. Wayne Kendall, Director of Real Estate Markets, Caribbean Banking; Lester Cox, Senior Account Manager and Division Head-Elect; Jerome Pinder, Executive Banking Manager; Lydia L. Gardiner, Account Manager; and Vanessa Richards, Account Officer.

Mr. Nathaniel Beneby, Jr. Vice President and Country Head, RBC Royal Bank of Canada, Bahamas says, *”The group is focused on assisting property developers and buyers – foreign and local – with projects based in The Bahamas and across the Caribbean region.”*

Mr. Craig Wright, Vice President and Chief Economist of the Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto, was in town on the occasion of the launch and provided an update on RBC’s assessment of the Bahamian economy. He said the economy is in good shape and with all the foreign direct investments the country has a bright financial future. *”We think 2007 and 2008 look like more of the same,”* with momentum on the investment side generating spinoffs for the domestic side.

RBC Royal Bank of Canada Bahamas and Caribbean has a retail network of 43 branches, four business centres and 74 automated banking machines in eight Caribbean countries, employing 1,200 persons, serving 205,000 customers.