Royal Bank of Canada

RBC does both. RBC Capital Partners is the bank's direct principal investing arm and deploys proprietary balance-sheet capital into private equity, private credit, and select venture opportunities. Separately, RBC Global Asset Management manages third-party institutional and retail capital across public markets, real estate, and infrastructure. The bank also acts as a co-investor alongside its managed fund clients in certain real estate and infrastructure vehicles.

RBC has committed to deploying C$500 billion in sustainable finance by 2025, spanning renewable energy project lending, green bond underwriting, and direct equity investment in energy transition infrastructure. The bank's capital markets division participates in project finance for wind, solar, and hydroelectric assets across Canada and the US, while its principal investing team targets mid-market companies in carbon capture, smart-grid technology, and electrification of industrial processes.

RBC's commercial banking division provides traditional balance-sheet loans to operating companies and real estate sponsors. Its private credit strategy, run through RBC Capital Partners and RBC Global Asset Management, offers non-bank, structured lending solutions to private equity-backed middle-market companies — typically senior secured, unitranche, and second-lien facilities. This line competes directly with dedicated private credit managers like Ares and Golub Capital, primarily in North America.

The December 2024 HSBC Canada acquisition added a substantial commercial loan book and wealth management client base in Western Canada and among cross-border Asian-Canadian clients. For principal investing, the transaction gives RBC a larger pipeline of corporate relationships for direct private equity and private credit origination, particularly in British Columbia's resource and technology sectors, while also providing expanded distribution for RBC-managed private fund products to HSBC's former high-net-worth client base.

RBC's principal real estate investments concentrate on office, multifamily, and mixed-use development in Canada's six largest urban markets — particularly Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. The bank has also selectively co-invested in US multifamily assets through joint ventures with institutional partners. RBC historically developed and held long-term stakes in properties including RBC Centre in Toronto and Place Ville Marie in Montreal, though it has increasingly moved toward a partnership model that reduces direct exposure to single-asset risk.