Newcomers want more reliable information about new lives in Canada - RBC research

TORONTO — Despite having access to multiple sources of information, many newcomers to Canada feel that they lack relevant and trustworthy information to help with decisions on their new lives in Canada, according to RBC research conducted recently in China and India with individuals poised to immigrate to Canada.

"The people we spoke with in India and China indicated that they were often faced with conflicting and out of date information when researching for their move to Canada, which made them feel anxious," said Andrea Metrick, head, Client Strategy and Multicultural Markets at RBC Royal Bank.

To help alleviate these concerns, RBC Royal Bank today released a new guidebook "Understanding banking in Canada" to provide practical financial information for new immigrants at key stages of their move to Canada. The new guidebook helps newcomers make important financial decisions upon arrival, as they get settled and when they start planning for the future.

"We undertook this research before new immigrants arrive in the country to understand what more we could do to help make their move to Canada easier," Metrick added. "As part of our RBC Welcome to Canada banking package, the new guidebook will help newcomers better organize their financial priorities and is designed to complement the financial advice that a newcomer receives from their RBC advisor."

The RBC Welcome to Canada banking package includes a suite of banking products and services, coupled with financial advice, fee-waivers, discounts and interest rate bonuses, tailored to meet the needs of newcomers who have been in Canada for less than three years.

Information on moving to Canada, including financial advice and solutions can be found at RBC's comprehensive web site for new Canadians at www.rbc.com/canada, accessible to consumers around the world. Details on the RBC Welcome to Canada banking package, the new "Understanding banking in Canada" guidebook, and branch locator that identifies representatives who speak a variety of languages, can be found at www.rbc.com/welcome. Telephone banking service is available in 150+ languages when calling 1-800 ROYAL 1-1 or dedicated service is available in Mandarin and Cantonese at 1-888 ROYAL 9-8.

These are some of the findings of qualitative research conducted by Environics Research Group on behalf of RBC Royal Bank in March 2009. Eight groups were consulted - two each in Shanghai and Beijing in China, and Delhi and Ludhiana in India. The cities were chosen based on immigration trends and RBC's presence in China and India, the top two source countries of immigration to Canada in recent years. All group participants were those who had applied for immigration to Canada. There were seven to eight respondents participating in each group and each group was two hours in length.

For more information, contact:
Linda Sadlowski, RBC, 416-974-1754
Matt Gierasimczuk, RBC, 416-974-2124