TORONTO -- The Royal Bank (TSX:RY) reported Thursday a record annual profit for its latest year, including $1.9 billion in the fourth quarter, powered by its personal banking business.

The first of Canada's big banks to report its fourth-quarter results said personal and commercial banking business earnings topped $1 billion for the quarter.

Chief executive Gord Nixon said the bank would use its size to continue to grow despite expectations for the pace to slow.

"While we anticipate that the strong growth in consumer lending that we experienced this year will moderate, we continue to have good momentum in the higher margin commercial business," he said.

"Overall we believe that we can continue to achieve volume growth at a 25 per cent premium to the market."

The housing market started to cool in the summer and onsumer borrowing has also been stretched as personal debt levels have reached record levels, a key concern raised by both Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.

However Royal Bank suggested its loan portfolio appears strong.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 30, 2012 B11