Royal Bank of Canada today announced its intention to renew its normal course issuer bid through the facilities of the Toronto Stock Exchange and to repurchase for cancellation up to 40 million common shares.

That’s about 3% of the bank’s outstanding common shares as at October 13.

The said bank intends to file a notice of intention with the TSX.

Purchases may continue for a period of one year. The amount and timing of any purchases will be determined by the bank.

The bank said the proposed share repurchase will enable the it to balance the imperatives of maintaining solid capital ratios with the ongoing need to generate shareholder value. On July 31, 2006, the bank’s Tier 1 and Total capital ratios were 9.6% and 12.4%, respectively.

The bank currently has a normal course issuer bid under way through which approximately 6.3 million of an allowed 7 million common shares have been repurchased as of October 13. This bid will expire October 31.

Also today, TD Bank Financial Group announced it intends to launch a normal course issuer bid through the facilities of the TSX to repurchase up to 5 million of its common shares over the 12 month period following commencement of the bid. This represents approximately 0.7% of TD’s common shares currently issued and outstanding.