Unlike the United States, which has more than 4,000 domestic banks, Canada has just 35. Of that total, the top six (Royal Bank, TD Bank, Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, CIBC and National Bank) control over 90% of this country’s banking assets. That high amount of control makes it hard for the big banks to expand inside Canada. That’s why Royal Bank’s acquisition of the Canadian operations of global banking firm HSBC in March 2024 is a significant milestone. The purchase, the largest in Royal’s history, increased its Canadian customer base by 5% to 15 million. The bank is also doing a good job cross-selling its wealth management and other services to those former HSBC customers.  As well, Royal has exceeded its pre-merger cost-cutting goals. That’s largely why the stock is up 25% since the acquisition—67% higher than the 15% gain for the S&P/TSX Composite Index.  I asked our Successful Investor research department to draw up this Inner Circle Spotlight…