ROYAL BANK MOVES INTO U.S.
By Adnews Staff
The Royal Bank of Canada has taken its first step into U.S. waters. The bank has bought Security First Network Bank of Atlanta, a fully functional Internet bank. SFNB is a FDIC insured federal savings bank. It provides customers across the U.S. with savings and transaction accounts, certificates of deposit, electronic bill payment and integrated customer statements over the Internet. SFNB also provides bank machine access, telephone banking and debit/credit card platforms. "We see immediate opportunities to serve Royal Bank's North American-based customers and our Global Private Banking clients," Royal Bank Personal Financial Services executive vice-president Jim Rager says in a release. "There are more than two million 'snowbirds' who travel to Florida each winter and thousands of small and medium-sized Canadian enterprises operating in the U.S. that need financial services."