	royal trust plots aggressive global expansion royal trustco ltd in a move unique among canadian trust companies is pursuing a bold global expansion that could someday lift the foreign share of its yearly ings to pct president michael cornelissen said first marathon securities ltd financial services analyst michael walsh said royal trust s international growth target is attainable but it will be a tremendous achievement because they re going to have to build an international ings base larger than the ings of a lot of significant domestic trust companies walsh said global operations which made up pct of royal trust s mln dlr net profit will post pct profit growth this year against an expected pct jump in total company profit cornelissen told reuters in an interview he said the foreign share of total profit would rise to pct in and to pct by royal trust canada s second largest trust company with assets of about billion canadian dlrs has operated internationally since when it opened a london bank its aggressive global strategy began in the s when other canadian trusts the equivalent of u s savings and loans were focusing on domestic retail banking the company s overseas ambitions were whetted by heightened domestic competition and impressive growth at its london bank operations which attained full british banking powers in cornelissen said last year royal trust moved into continental europe and asia with its mln canadian dlr acquisition of dow chemical co dow s dow financial services corp which included asset management merchant and private banking companies it was a heaven sent opportunity cornelissen said of the dow financial acquisition we achieved in one year what would otherwise have taken five to years to set up cornelissen stressed that royal trust would shun direct competition with major global financial institutions in activities such as international lending and stock brokerage in order to exploit profitable niches overseas in traditional trust activities such as asset management private banking and advisory services he said that royal trust hoped to complete negotiations before the end of this month to sell its london based savory milln brokerage acquired in the dow financial deal the international market is so big and we have such a miniscule share of it that growth opportunities are really limited only by our energy and our desire to find more business he said adding that in trust type services we don t think the international markets are well served aiding royal trust s foreign growth are greater foreign investment interest in north america and increased canadian investment abroad cornelissen said central to royal trust s strategy is asia boasting rapid economic growth and huge pools of japanese capital said cornelissen whose company administers assets of billion dlrs more than any other canadian trust citing statistics indicating that by the year asia will contain two thirds of the world s population and pct of global productive capacity cornelissen said we knew we had to be there royal trust s international locations include offices in tokyo hong kong and singapore the company also recently listed its shares on the tokyo stock exchange the royal trust president said the company was stressing growth within its overseas units adding he did not foresee any acquisitions in the immediate future although we have our eyes wide open for the right opportunities asked about royal trust s plans for the u s which the company abandoned with the sale of its florida bank units cornelissen said the company faced a trust services market well covered by hundreds of small regional banks that doesn t mean to say we shouldn t be in the u s said cornelissen that is probably one area that we will probably do something with in the next five years he said the company would continue to emphasize its home canadian market which cornelissen and financial services analysts agreed would remain vital to royal trust proposed government regulations to allow canadian banks trusts insurance and securities dealers full participation in one another s actitivies will mean more domestic competition for royal trust but not drastically more cornelissen said reuter 
