The fire sale of assets by troubled Dexia has presented a global opportunity for Royal Bank of Canada, which has just taken full control of a six-year joint venture custody and asset services provider it previously had with the Franco-Belgian bank.

RBC paid €837.5m for the 50% of RBC Dexia Investor Services that it did not already own and is using it as a platform to continue growth in Europe and expand in Asia and South America. Senior staff will soon be sent to Beijing and Brazil to expand the product range and more growth is planned in Asia-Pacific over the next few years.