Royal Bank of Canada
Q3 2022 Earnings Call
Aug 24, 2022, 8:00 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to RBC's conference call for the third quarter 2022 financial results. [Operator instructions] I would now like to turn the meeting over to Asim Imran, head of investor relations. Please go ahead.
Asim Imran -- Head of Investor Relations
Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Speaking today will be Dave McKay, president and chief executive officer; Nadine Ahn, chief financial officer; and Graeme Hepworth, chief risk officer. Also joining us today for your questions, Neil McLaughlin, group head, personal and commercial banking; Doug Guzman, group head, wealth management, insurance, and I&TS and Derek Neldner, group head, capital markets. As noted on Slide 1, our comments may contain forward-looking statements, which involve assumptions and have inherent risks and uncertainties.
Actual results could differ materially. I would also remind listeners that the bank assesses its performance on a reported and adjusted basis and considers, both to be useful in assessing underlying business performance. To give everyone a chance to ask questions, we ask that you limit your questions and then requeue. With that, I'll turn it over to Dave.
Dave McKay -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Asim, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Today, we reported earnings of $3.6 billion, a solid quarter driven by continued strength in our personal and commercial banking businesses, both Canada and the US, where we benefited from double-digit volume growth and strong tailwinds from rising interest rates. Our market-sensitive businesses reported a challenging set of results against the backdrop of one of the toughest environments for financial markets.
This was underpinned by increased uncertainty, heightened volatility, lower asset valuations, and widening credit spreads, impacting client sentiment and activity. Expense growth was relatively flat from last year as a built-in hedge of lower variable compensation offset higher spend as we continued to invest in the client experience. Our results also included a prudent reserve build given the range of potential macroeconomic outcomes, including the likelihood of a recession across North America. While we closely monitor early warning indicators, both gross impaired loans and PCL on impaired loans remain low as our clients continue to demonstrate resilience despite rising costs.