"This decision is the right one for our business," said RBC Mortgage CEO Jon Legg. "Combining our corporate functions in one location will make us more effective and efficient, and will help us complete our transition to the more customer-focused business model that we adopted last year."
The Chicago corporate facility at 222 Merchandise Mart Plaza will close by the end of January 2005, but RBC Mortgage will continue to operate its Chicago area branch offices in Chicago, Northbrook, Oakbrook, Libertyville, Schaumburg and Rockford.
RBC Mortgage employs more than 3,000 employees in 200 branches in 30 U.S. states. The headquarters consolidation is expected to impact less than 5% of the company's total staff. Several employees from select functions will move to other RBC Mortgage locations in the Chicago area; some employees will relocate to Houston; and others will have the opportunity to apply for other jobs within RBC Financial Group.
"In recent months, we have focused on ways to improve the performance of our mortgage operation. Throughout this year we have made a number of internal process improvements and now believe the time is right and the organization is ready to serve our customers from a single headquarters," said Legg. "This is a decision that we could not effectively implement while the mortgage and refinance market were at the historical high volumes of 2003. We expect this consolidation will result in minimal disruption for our customers and believe this decision allows RBC Mortgage to more efficiently and effectively serve our customers from coast to coast."
In addition to the headquarters office, RBC Mortgage has nine branch offices in the Houston area. RBC Dain Rauscher, RBC Capital Markets and RBC Builder Finance also have offices in the Houston area. In total, the RBC companies have more than 630 employees in Houston.
About RBC Mortgage/RBC Centura Bank
RBC Mortgage includes a nationwide network of loan officers and branches in 30 states. The company has operations in both retail (originations direct to consumers) and wholesale (originations through third-party brokers). It also has joint ventures with numerous real estate offices and builders through affiliated business arrangements (ABA's). For more information about RBC Mortgage, please visit the company's website at http://www.rbcmortgage.com/.
RBC Mortgage is a wholly owned subsidiary of RBC Centura Bank. RBC Centura delivers a wide range of financial services and advice, including a complete line of banking, investment, loan, mortgage and insurance to individuals and businesses in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and Florida. RBC Centura is a brand name used by RBC Centura Banks, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada (RY: NYSE, TSX). Additional information may be found at http://www.rbccentura.com/.
RBC Centura Banks, Inc.
© 2004 PR Newswire
