Royal Bank today reported a jump in profit for the second quarter ended April 30. Canada’s largest bank said the increase was driven by stronger capital market revenues.

The bank said it earned $763 million, or $1.14 a share, during the quarter, based on Canadian accounting principles.

That is up from year-before profit of $697 million, or $1 a share, a year ago.

Total revenues increased to $4.54 billion from $4.17 billion. Return on equity was 17.3%, compared with 15.4% a year ago.

The provision for credit losses was $153 million, down from $211 million in the second quarter of 2003.

Four of Royal’s five main units posted better quarterly results, led by higher market-related revenues from RBC Investments and RBC Capital Markets.

“We delivered solid results in the second quarter, reflecting much stronger performance in our investments, capital markets and Canadian banking and insurance operations,” said Gordon Nixon, CEO, in a news release.

Overall, by geography, the U.S. operations reported net income of $65 million, compared with a net loss of $41 million in the first quarter. Last year, the U.S. operations netted a profit of $91 million.

“In the U.S., we are focusing on improving the performance of our banking business and growing our operations in a cautious, disciplined manner,” said Nixon.

The stronger Canadian dollar hurt profits as U.S. dollar-denominated revenues account for about a third of the bank’s total revenues.

Meanwhile, the bank says U.S. regulators have sent it a subpoena relating to its former auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The bank is responding to the request from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is looking into the auditor’s resignation last year, services other than auditing the firm provided the bank and “our policies and compliance procedures regarding auditor independence,” Royal said.