‘Time to shift that narrative’ — RBC to launch $1-billion fund to help Canadian businesses grow

RBC chief executive Dave McKay, says Canada needs $1.8 trillion in capital investment over the next decade to meet its economic potential. Photo by Brent Calver/Postmedia

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Canada’s biggest bank is launching a growth fund that might deploy up to $1 billion in the coming years to help Canadian companies grow.

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“I hear from Canadian entrepreneurs who feel they need foreign capital to build at home, and too often that means leaving their home market,” Royal Bank of Canada chief executive Dave McKay said at the bank’s AGM on Thursday. “It’s time to shift that narrative.”

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The initiative will make direct equity investments in Canadian companies to help them help build and scale in Canada, he said, and in turn help accelerate the country’s economy.

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McKay said Canada needs $1.8 trillion in capital investment over the next decade to meet its economic potential and finance the country’s major projects, according to new RBC research.

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“The vast majority of this capital must come from the private sector,” he said. “Government simply cannot — and should not — fund it alone.”

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To that end, RBC will be hiring people in key roles to expand its client offerings in “sectors of national importance,” including building out its defence sector practice, strengthening its infrastructure and project finance capabilities — with a greater focus on the North and Indigenous partnerships — and doing more to help Canadian companies expand abroad.

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Canada’s economy performed better than expected in January, but growth remains slow. Its gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.1 per cent as opposed to economists’ expectations of no growth.

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Earlier this month, Deloitte Canada downgraded its growth expectations for Canada in 2026, forecasting that GDP will rise by 1.2 per cent this year, compared to its previous forecast in January of 1.5 per cent.

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Even so, global investors are signalling that they see Canada as a “stable, reliable partner in a volatile world,” McKay said, adding that foreign direct investment is flowing into the country at levels he hasn’t seen in nearly two decades.

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“I believe Canada can become the world’s premier destination for long-term investment, but only if it moves with purpose, urgency and speed in a race for capital that’s never been more intense,” he said.

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RBC beat analysts’ expectations when it released its first-quarter results earlier this year, earning $5.8 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up 13 per cent year over year.

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