RBC plans to spread the cash from the sale of the U.S. unit across its business, which operates in 58 countries.
'Liberated Capital'
"I don't want people to think we've liberated this capital and we're going to turn around and immediately invest it in wealth management in the U.S or Asia," Nixon said. "All of our businesses have various capital-growth plans, as well as looking at opportunities to invest in businesses or in acquisitions."
The sale of RBC Bank helps put Toronto-based Royal Bank at an advantage compared with other banks as new international capital requirements force lenders to sell assets to build up cash, Nixon said. PNC has the option to pay as much as $1 billion of the purchase price in stock.
RBC Bank was expected to fetch as much as $3.7 billion, according to Peter Routledge, an analyst at National Bank Financial. JPMorgan Chase & Co. advised on the sale.
"We view the transaction as a fairly positive and should be accretive to earnings, reducing the headwinds and negative impact that the U.S. retail banking operations has represented to the overall bank," said John Aiken, a bank analyst at Barclays Capital in Toronto.
Cash On Hand
RBC had C$8.95 billion of cash on its balance sheet on April 30. The sale will increase 2012 earnings by 10 cents a share, the bank said.
The bank will continue to operate some services in the U.S. and may make another purchase in the country if it offers "reasonable" rates of return, Nixon said.
The Canadian bank says it's the fifth-largest U.S. advisory firm with $220 billion in assets under administration and 4,700 asset-management employees. The U.S. also accounts for more than 40 percent of revenue and staffing at the RBC Capital Markets investment bank, according to bank figures.