Royal Bank of Canada yesterday announced a share buyback program that will see it repurchase up to 7 million of its common shares over the next few months through the Toronto Stock Exchange.

That amount of stock represents only 0.5% of the outstanding Royal Bank common shares. As of June 14, 2006, there were over 1.2 billion common shares of the bank outstanding.

Under the bank’s current normal course issuer bid, which expires on Friday, the bank has repurchased just over 9.5 million of its common shares for a total of $724 million.

Purchases under the new normal course issuer bid may begin Monday and continue to Oct. 31, 2006, which marks the end of the bank’s 2006 financial year. The amount and timing of any purchases will be determined by the bank.

Royal shares closed Tuesday at $44.77.