Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is one of the world's leading diversified financial services
companies. One that is distinguished by a long heritage of financial strength, integrity and
unwavering dedication to our clients.

Key Facts
- Chartered in 1869
- Approximately 80,000 employees speaking over 100 languages serve more than 15 million clients worldwide
- Stock trades as RY on New York (NYSE) and Toronto (TSX) exchanges

Among the World's Best
- Top 5 of largest banks in North America1 and Top 15 of largest banks globally1
- Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands (BrandZTM 8th annual global brands ranking)
- Global strength in wealth management and capital markets

Canada's Leading Financial Institution
- Largest bank in Canada, with over US$826 billion2 in total assets and a Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio of 9.2% (Basel III)2
- #1 or #2 market share across all major financial products and services in Canada
- Ranked fourth strongest bank in the world by Bloomberg Markets (June 2013 World's Strongest Banks report)

Stable…Safe…Sustainable
- Consistently high credit ratings - Moody's Aa3, Standard & Poor's AA- and Fitch Ratings AA
- Consistently strong and stable with a high-quality balance sheet, proactive risk management and a strong liquidity position
- Named to the Global 100: Most Sustainable Corporations in the World in 2013 for the ninth consecutive year (Corporate Knights, World Economic Forum)
- Recognized among the world's financial, social and environmental corporate leaders for the 13th consecutive year on the 2013 Dow Jones Sustainability World Index
- Committed to environmental and watershed protection in communities worldwide through the 10-year, C$50 million RBC Blue Water Project




About RBC Wealth Management



Who We Are
RBC Wealth Management is a premier provider of global financial solutions serving high net worth clients in select markets around the world.

What We Do
At RBC Wealth Management, we'll help you unlock the full potential of your wealth. Through our local knowledge and global expertise, we provide customized solutions that integrate every aspect of your financial life.

What You Can Expect
You will enjoy a remarkably different client experience. Add to that the assurance that comes from having a secure, stable and reputable organization with global resources on your side.

Key Facts
- Recognized as one of the world's Top 10 largest wealth managers
- Ranked Best Private Banking Services Overall for Canada and the Caribbean (2013 Euromoney Private
- Banking and Wealth Management Survey)
- In the U.S., earned 100% rating on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index (2013)
- More than US$598 billion in assets under administration and more than US$362 billion in assets under management worldwide
- Approximately 4,300 financial advisors, private bankers and trust officers worldwide, with approximately 2,000 financial advisors in the U.S.
- Offers some of the very best of thousands of investment products, including many local, regional and international investment opportunities that may not be available from other firms

During their three-day meeting last month, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe again asked US President Barack Obama to speed up exports of American natural gas to help his beleaguered and energy-poor economy. But the big energy revolution that could ride to Tokyo's rescue may not come on tankers from US ports, but rather from deep underneath the sandy seabed off Japan's own shores.

Methane hydrates, which are chunky packets of ice that trap huge amounts of natural gas in the form of methane, are looming ever larger in Japan's plans to meet its needs for energy in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and skyrocketing bills for imported fuel.

Other Asian countries facing an energy crunch, including South Korea, India and China, are also hoping to tap into the apparently abundant reserves of methane hydrates, also known as "fire ice." That could help fuel growing economies - but it could also fuel further tensions in regional seas that are already the stage for geopolitical sabre rattling and brinkmanship over natural resources.

Totally unknown until the 1960s, methane hydrates could theoretically store more gas than all the world's conventional gas fields today. The amount that scientists estimate should be obtainable comes to about 43,000 trillion cubic feet, or nearly double the 22,800 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable traditional natural gas resources around the world. The United States consumed 26 trillion cubic feet of gas last year.

That raises the possibility of an energy revolution that could dwarf even the shale gale that has transformed America's fortunes in a few short years. It could also potentially have big implications for countries, including the US, Australia, Qatar and even Russia, which are banking on unbridled growth in the global trade of liquefied natural gas. The trick will be to figure out exactly how to profitably tap vast deposits of the stuff buried inside the sea floor.

Enormous potential

"There's no doubt that the resource potential is enormous," says Michael Stoppard, managing director, global gas, at energy consultancy IHS. "I think it's the ultimate rebuttal to the peak oil and peak gas concept, but of course that's not much good unless you can develop it."

To that end, this month a 499-tonne survey vessel nosed out of the port of Sakai, once home to fabled gunsmiths and the finest makers of samurai swords in medieval Japan and today the prospective launching pad for a new technological revolution.

For the next two months, the Kaiyo Maru No 7 will survey the sea floor off Japan's west coast, the first step in a years-long process that could end with significant production of natural gas in Japanese waters. A promising methane hydrate site off the southeast coast was the subject of earlier surveys.

Japan is the epicentre of methane hydrates today not because it has so much of the resource - quite the opposite, most methane hydrates appear to be in North America - but because it needs the resource so badly and is working faster than any other country to make fire ice a commercial proposition.

The US and Canada are awash in methane hydrate resources, found both under the seabed such as in the Gulf of Mexico and in sub-Arctic permafrost. But both countries also have huge reserves of conventional and shale gas, dampening industry enthusiasm for a complicated, lengthy research process.

Although some companies, such as Chevron, work alongside the US government on methane hydrate research, "there's a little less space in the industry for enabling field experiments and data collection than there was 10 years ago," says Ray Boswell, technology manager for methane hydrates at the US Energy Department's National Energy Technology Laboratory.

Not so in Japan. This spring, researchers in Japan reached a technical breakthrough, figuring out exactly how the gassy bundles of ice release 160 times their volume in methane as they are taken out of low-temperature, high-pressure environments. That could make commercial extraction, which experts estimate is at least 10 to 15 years off, an easier proposition. Continue reading…

Preserve And Share Your Wealth
You may have ideas for how you want your assets to be shared during and beyond your lifetime. It's never too early to think about the legacy you want to create on behalf of the people and causes you care about. Your RBC Wealth Management financial advisor can help you protect the assets you've built up over a lifetime and distribute them according to your goals and values.

When you're ready to explore your options, you'll receive personalized guidance regarding the most effective strategies to help you:
- Minimize the effects of inflation and taxes - including income taxes, capital gains taxes and estate and gift taxes
- Provide for the future well-being of loved ones
- Make charitable contributions
- Transfer money and property to your heirs

Achieve your goals for creating a meaningful legacy:
- Being smart about funding education
- Contributing where it counts
- Making gifts in your lifetime
- Designing your estate plan