Two Countries
In serving those highly paid athletes, Royal Bank stands out, having advised pros for almost three decades. It focused initially on hockey players, whose careers often shuttle them between the U.S. and Canada.
“Nobody has our cross-border capabilities,” Bob McKee, Royal Bank’s managing director for sports professionals, said in an interview at his Vancouver office. “That is the key.”
The company works with about 900 sports professionals, about 80% tied to hockey -- mostly NHL players, but also those playing in the American Hockey League or Europe, as well as drafted junior players, retired NHLers, coaches, agents and executives. The rest are in MLB or the NFL, where Royal Bank expanded in the past two years, or in the NBA or professional golf.
A 38-member Royal Bank team includes a dozen private bankers in Canada and the U.S. who act as “quarterbacks,” coordinating the bank’s response to client needs, along with 15 investment advisers, McKee said.
“It’s not a 9-to-5, Monday-to-Friday job,” said McKee, 63, who spent years as a private banker for athletes before moving into his current role. “You’ve got to be able to work 24/7, seven days a week. It’s not a job for everybody.”
Canucks Clients
Royal Bank established a North American sports professionals segment within its private-banking division in 2004, consolidating services for athletes scattered across its branch network. But the beginnings reach back further, when McKee was a senior loans officer at a branch near the Canucks’ Vancouver arena. His break came in 1991, when he landed players Trevor Linden and Cliff Ronning as clients.
Royal Bank’s U.S. foray starting in the late 1990s helped expand the practice of serving border-hopping NHL players. The firm extended its reach when it bought City National -- Hollywood’s “bank to the stars” -- in 2015.
A playbook emerged: Get athletes when they’re young -- often 18, 19 or 20 years old -- to give them guidance before the big paychecks and bigger temptations arrive. To win over those players and their families, attending the annual NHL entry draft became a requirement -- including this week’s gathering in Vancouver.
“The opportune time is before they sign that contract, before they start to think about what they’re going to do with this money -- and some of it could be frivolous like buying a Ferrari or something,” McKee said.
Royal Bank also attracts athletes midway through their careers or approaching retirement. Today, about 18% of clients are retired players.