The story of RBC Dominion Securities—125 years of trust, growth, and guiding Canadians forward.
On a spring morning in 1901, a group of prominent Canadian business leaders signed a charter in Toronto that would change the country’s financial landscape forever. The document they put their names to that morning incorporated The Dominion Securities Corporation Limited—a name that reflected its national scope. The founders, led by Senator George Cox and his protégé Edward Rogers Wood, were principals in the Central Canada Loan and Savings Company, and they had a vision that reached beyond the walls of a single office on King Street East.
That single office grew. Within six years, the firm had crossed the Atlantic, becoming the first Canadian investment house to plant its flag in London. In 1908, Dominion Securities (DS) completed the first public issue by a Canadian company in the London market, bringing Western Canada Flower Mills to British investors. The founding generation set a pattern the firm would follow for the next century: build where no market exists, and grow alongside the country it serves.
As Canada built its cities, its infrastructure, and its industries, DS was there. When the First World War tested the nation, the firm stood at the center of financing the war effort. Its War Loan and Victory Loan bonds did more than raise money for the front lines—they helped lay the groundwork for Canada’s entire bond market, introducing millions of citizens to the idea of owning a piece of their country’s debt. In the decades that followed, the firm helped finance the country’s first subway in Toronto, and served as one of the primary financial agents for the Alcan Highway Pipeline in 1977. As the country grew, so did the firm’s branches, until offices stood in every principal city from coast to coast.
The firm that would one day manage billions began with a single switchboard, a few dozen telephones, and a team. The entire Toronto operation was small enough that every bond issued, every trade made, and every client call returned flowed through the same lines. By the mid-1960s, the firm grew to more than 400 employees, needing three switchboards linking 30 trunk lines to 74 extensions. The firm’s steady climb was measured in the gradual trust of a country and the people that were growing alongside it.
In 1985, DS was the first investment dealer to offer Treasury bills on a broad scale to investors, and introduced Sentinels—a convenient way to own bond coupons and residuals without splitting the bond.
The firm’s growth came not only through expansion, but also through joining forces. Over the decades, a series of mergers brought together some of Canada’s investment names. In 1981, the firm merged with A.E. Ames & Co., an investment firm founded in 1899—older than DS itself. Together, the two firms united more than 150 years of shared history under one roof.
A defining moment came when Royal Bank of Canada acquired a majority stake of the firm in 1988, uniting the strengths of a national bank with a century of investment expertise. The firm then became RBC Dominion Securities, and a new chapter began—one that would see it grow into one of the country’s top wealth managers, with a reach well beyond Canada’s borders.
Today, the vision of the founders still echoes through every client relationship. The charter signed that morning did more than incorporate a company. It set in motion more than a century of helping build Canada’s financial future, one client, one market, and one milestone at a time.
The story that began in 1901 is still being written today with clients like you. Every financial plan we build, every portfolio we steward, every conversation we have with you carries forward a tradition that stretches back more than a century—a tradition of trust, of steady guidance through every market, and of a commitment for the long run.
As we celebrate 125 years of RBC Dominion Securities, thank you for your continued trust in us with what matters most to you.
This document has been prepared for use by the RBC Wealth Management member companies, RBC Dominion Securities Inc.*, RBC Phillips, Hager & North Investment Counsel Inc., RBC Global Asset Management Inc., Royal Trust Corporation of Canada and The Royal Trust Company (collectively, the “Companies”) and their affiliate, Royal Mutual Funds Inc. (RMFI). *Member – Canada Investor Protection Fund. Each of the Companies, RMFI and Royal Bank of Canada are separate corporate entities which are affiliated.
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® / ™ Trademark(s) of Royal Bank of Canada. Used under licence. © Royal Bank of Canada 2026. All rights reserved.