The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Royal Bank of Canada is on the cusp of closing the country's largest-ever domestic banking deal. The Globe's Stefanie Marotta writes that the pending $13.5-billion takeover of London-based HSBC Holdings PLC's Canadian unit was initially set to be completed last year until it faced delays with approvals; it is now expected to close at the end of March. RBC expects pretax acquisition and integration costs of about $1.5-billion, up from $1-billion when it announced the deal in late 2022. It also expects to close the deal with a higher capital Tier 1 (CET1) ratio -- a measure of a bank's ability to absorb losses -- at 12.5 per cent, up from the previous 11.5-per-cent estimate. HSBC's Canadian subsidiary has 780,000 retail clients, of which 40 per cent are considered affluent. Its loan portfolio is focused on commercial and mortgage lending, but RBC said that the credit quality of those loans are largely held by larger businesses and high-net-worth clients that have withstood the economic slowdown. "We got very comfortable with their portfolio and, if anything, it skews a little bit better than some of our portfolios," said Graeme Hepworth, RBC's chief risk officer.