Canadian banks merge

Canadian banks merge

Royal Bank of Canada is buying Bank of Montreal for C$17.69bn (pounds 7.38bn), stunning a clubby banking community that has been shielded from the wave of mergers sweeping the world's financial industry. Combining Canada's first- and third-biggest banking companies would create a financial institution with assets of C$453b, ranking it third in North America behind Citicorp and Chase Manhattan of the US.