Dexia, the Luxembourg-based bank, and Royal Bank of Canada have agreed to merge their institutional investor services to create a new company with $1.8 trillion (€1.5 trillion) in assets under custody.

José Placido, currently executive vice-president of RBC Global Services, will be chief executive of the new company, RBC Dexia Investor Services. Marc Hoffman, chief executive of Dexia Banque International à Luxembourg, will be chairman.