Dominion Securities was established in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on 18 March 1901 as Dominion Securities Corporation Limited. Its founders, Senator
George Albertus Cox and
Edward Rogers Wood, were both well known Canadian business figures at the time, having previously formed the
National Trust Company together in 1898. The firm originally focused on the underwriting and new issue of government and municipal bonds but diversified into war bonds during
World War I and into equity securities in later years. At the time of incorporation, DS was located at 26 King Street East in Toronto. When the formation of the company was announced, the directors named were
Henry Pellatt, George Edwards, Robert Armstrong, Anthony L'Estrange Malone, and Albert Mearns. Dominion Securities was capitalised at $1 million. By 1958, the firm had developed a large network of branches including locations in every major Canadian city as well as international offices in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and London. The late 1950s saw Dominion Securities fully involved in the trading of securities on the secondary markets as members of The Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, and Canadian Stock Exchanges, as well as affiliate members of the American Stock Exchange. They also had access to the NYSE and numerous other exchanges at the time. During this period, DS maintained a head office at 50 King Street West in Toronto and was headed by President G.E. Phipps, Chairman G.P. Rutherford, and Vice-chairman, H. N. Bawden. The firm grew through acquisitions and itself was gradually acquired by Royal Bank of Canada where it became the corporate and investment banking subsidiary of the bank holding company. Dominion Securities was the last of the major brokerages to be taken over by banks, following the purchases of
Wood Gundy by the
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce,
Nesbitt Thomson by the
Bank of Montreal, Burns Fry by
Security Pacific Bank, Lévesque Beaubien Geoffrion by the
National Bank of Canada, and
McLeod Young Weir by the
Bank of Nova Scotia. In 2000, the investment banking subsidiary rebranded itself from RBC Dominion Securities to
RBC Capital Markets. However the Dominion Securities brand is still used today; RBC Dominion Securities Inc is the legal name of the company from which the full service brokerage activities operate. In addition, RBC Dominion Securities is the broker dealer subsidiary used by RBC Capital Markets in Canada. On July 9, 2020, a
class action lawsuit was filed by former RBC Dominion Securities employee Leigh Cunningham and others, claiming that the company owes them for unpaid statutory holidays and other vacation days, and seeking damages of $800 million. The lawsuit was certified by the
Supreme Court of Ontario on December 29, 2022. == Acquisitions ==