Canadian Banks Plan Mega-Merger

Canada’s No. 1 and No. 3 banks announced dramatic plans Friday to merge into a global financial force to battle giant U.S. and overseas rivals.

The merger of Royal Bank of Canada and the Bank of Montreal would forge a company with 90,000 employees in 35 countries, 17 million customers, a stock market value of $26 billion and combined assets of $312 billion.

“We are creating a Canadian bank that can go head to head with any bank anywhere,” said Bank of Montreal chairman Matthew Barrett.

Royal Bank already is Canada’s largest corporation, in terms of assets. The Bank of Montreal is the No. 3 bank after the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

The merger, which values Bank of Montreal at around $15 billion, would leave Royal Bank shareholders a 54.9 percent stake in the new company, whose name has not been determined. The companies said they do not anticipate significant job losses from the combination.