Prime brokers look outside Canada

At RBC Capital Markets, Colin Bugler, managing director of equity finance, says European and US hedge funds already account for the bulk of the bank's prime brokerage business.

"The international side of our business grew in 2008 as there was a flight to quality after the problems that emerged with many of our competitors in the US," he says. The relative strength of RBC's balance sheet "pushed us to the top of the list for many hedge funds" in Europe and the US, he adds.

Bugler expects the tren