Bank raises quarterly dividend to $1.76 per share.

Royal Bank of Canada says it’s maintaining a cautious outlook on credit despite analysts praising its performance last quarter, which saw the bank cut funds set aside for bad loans.

It comes as the bank raised its quarterly dividend and reported its second-quarter profit rose 25% compared with a year earlier. RBC will now pay a quarterly dividend of $1.76 per share, an increase from $1.64 per share.

The increased payment to shareholders came as RBC says it earned $5.5 billion or $3.85 per diluted share for the quarter ended April 30, up from a profit of $4.4 billion or $3.02 per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue totalled $17.5 billion for the quarter, up from $15.7 billion in the same quarter last year, while the bank’s provision for credit losses amounted to $912 million, down from $1.4 billion a year ago.

But RBC chief executive Dave McKay called the current economic environment a “period of volatility” and said the near-term outlook hinges on how upcoming negotiations on the North American free-trade agreement unfold as well as how long the Middle East conflict persists.

RBC said its personal banking unit earned $1.9 billion, up from $1.6 billion in the same quarter last year helped by higher net interest income and lower provisions for credit losses as well as higher fee-based client assets.

The bank’s commercial banking operations earned $854 million in the quarter, up from $597 million a year earlier.

RBC reported $1.2 billion of net income from its wealth management business, up 28% from $929 million in the same quarter last year. The increase was mainly attributed to higher fee-based client assets from market appreciation and net sales, higher spreads and a rise in net interest income from average volume growth in loans and deposits.

Canadian wealth management revenue increased 14% to $1.9 billion, mainly from higher fee-based client assets reflecting market appreciation and net sales, higher net interest income reflecting average volume growth in deposits and higher transactional revenue driven by client activity.

Meanwhile, RBC’s insurance business earned $218 million, up from $211 million a year ago. The was was primarily due to higher insurance investment result reflecting lower capital funding costs, partially offset by lower insurance service result.

The bank’s capital markets business earned $1.5 billion, up from $1.2 billion a year earlier. The increase mainly came from higher revenue in global markets and corporate and investment banking, partially offset by higher taxes.

As of Apr. 30, the bank had $5.9 trillion in assets under administration and $1.6 trillion in assets under management, up from $5 trillion and $1.4 trillion, respectively, at the same time in 2025.