Janice Fukakusa
Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Royal Bank of Canada
Royal Bank of Canada initiated some major strategic moves in the past year, and Janice Fukakusa has been instrumental in bringing them to fruition.
In her role as chief administrative officer and chief financial officer, she led two acquisitions and their complex integration. She also helped shepherd one divestiture-RBC sold its U.S. branch network to PNC Financial Services-and the equally complex move to retain the 170,000 Canadian customers from this sale by creating a new bank for that specific purpose.
Dubbed RBC Bank, the new unit provides direct banking to Canadians working, living or vacationing in the states, and serves customers of RBC U.S. Wealth Management. Fukakusa worked with the finance and technology teams under extremely tight deadlines to get the new bank running.
A $1.1 billion deal to acquire the other half of a joint venture it had, creating RBC Investor Services (formerly RBC Dexia), turned out to be similarly complicated. Fukakusa led a global reorganization of the business, combining it with complimentary services already offered within RBC. The other acquisition she worked on was a $3.7 billion deal for Ally Canada. It is one of the largest acquisitions RBC has made in recent years and positions the company as a leader in Canadian auto finance, both consumer and commercial.
Fukakusa, a champion of many nonprofit groups and RBC's renowned diversity efforts, is a key spokesperson for the firm with regulators, investors and media. She's also on the Canadian Public Accountability Board's steering committee to enhance audit quality.
