Annual Information Form
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ROYAL BANK OF CANADA
ANNUAL
INFORMATION
FORM
December 1, 2020
CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
From time to time, we make written or oral forward-looking statements within the meaning of certain securities laws, including the "safe harbour" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and any applicable Canadian securities legislation. We may make forward-looking statements in this Annual Information Form and in the documents incorporated by reference herein, in other filings with Canadian regulators or the United States (U.S.) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in reports to shareholders and in other communications. Forward-looking statements in this document and in the documents incorporated by reference herein include, but are not limited to, statements relating to our financial performance objectives, vision and strategic goals, the Economic and market review and outlook for Canadian, U.S., European and global economies, the regulatory environment in which we operate, the Strategic priorities and Outlook sections for each of our business segments, the risk environment including our credit risk, liquidity and funding risk as set out in the 2020 Management's Discussion and Analysis for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020 (the 2020 Management's Discussion and Analysis), and the potential continued impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on our business operations, financial results, condition and objectives, and on the global economy and financial market conditions. The forward-looking information contained in this Annual Information Form and in the documents incorporated by reference is presented for the purpose of assisting the holders of our securities and financial analysts in understanding our financial position and results of operations as at and for the periods ended on the dates presented, as well as our financial performance objectives, vision and strategic goals, and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as "believe", "expect", "foresee", "forecast", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "goal", "plan" and "project" and similar expressions of future or conditional verbs such as "will", "may", "should", "could" or "would".
By their very nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties, which give rise to the possibility that our predictions, forecasts, projections, expectations or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that our assumptions may not be correct and that our financial performance objectives, vision and strategic goals will not be achieved. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on these statements as a number of risk factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors - many of which are beyond our control and the effects of which can be difficult to predict - include: credit, market, liquidity and funding, insurance, operational, regulatory compliance (which could lead to us being subject to various legal and regulatory proceedings, the potential outcome of which could include regulatory restrictions, penalties and fines), strategic, reputation, legal and regulatory environment, competitive and systemic risks and other risks discussed in the risk sections and Significant developments: COVID-19 section of our Annual Report for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020 (the 2020 Annual Report) including business and economic conditions, information technology and cyber risks, Canadian housing and household indebtedness, geopolitical uncertainty, privacy, data and third party related risks, regulatory changes, environmental and social risk (including climate change), and digital disruption and innovation, culture and conduct, the business and economic conditions in the geographic regions in which we operate, the effects of changes in government fiscal, monetary and other policies, tax risk and transparency, environmental and social risk, and the emergence of widespread health emergencies or public health crises such as pandemics and epidemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the global economy and financial market conditions and our business operations, and financial results, condition and objectives.
We caution that the foregoing list of risk factors is not exhaustive and other factors could also adversely affect our results. When relying on our forward-looking statements to make decisions with respect to us, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Material economic assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Information Form are set out in the Economic, market and regulatory review and outlook section and for each business segment under the Strategic priorities and Outlook headings in our 2020 Annual Report. Except as required by law, we do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.
Additional information about these and other factors can be found in the risk sections and Significant developments: COVID-19 section of our 2020 Management's Discussion and Analysis.