City National Bank Routing Number: The Bank to the Stars

How a Los Angeles bank became Hollywood

City National Bank was founded in Beverly Hills in 1954 and quickly built a reputation as the bank of choice for entertainment professionals. Frank Sinatra was an early client. Over the decades, City National cultivated deep relationships with film studios, production companies, talent agencies, and individual artists - earning the unofficial title "Bank to the Stars." The bank's specialization was not just celebrity accounts; it was understanding the unusual financial rhythms of the entertainment industry, where cash flows are irregular, production budgets are massive and front-loaded, and residual income can arrive unpredictably for years.

In 2015, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) acquired City National for $5.4 billion, making it RBC's U.S. commercial and private banking platform. Despite the acquisition, City National retained its brand, its Beverly Hills headquarters, and its entertainment industry focus. The RBC backing gave City National access to a global balance sheet while preserving the boutique relationship model that Hollywood clients valued.

City National Bank routing number details

City National Bank's routing number is 122016066. The 122 prefix indicates processing through the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, consistent with City National's California charter. This single routing number applies to all City National accounts regardless of branch location - the bank operates across California, New York, Nevada, Tennessee, and Georgia, but all transactions route through the same number.

Entertainment payroll and production banking

The entertainment industry has banking needs that most institutions are not equipped to handle. A single film production may require a dedicated bank account that receives a $40 million deposit on day one, disperses payroll to hundreds of crew members across multiple unions (each with different pay schedules and benefit contribution requirements), processes vendor payments for everything from catering to CGI studios, and then closes the account when production wraps. City National built an entire division around servicing these production accounts.

The bank also handles entertainment payroll complexities like Screen Actors Guild residuals, Writers Guild minimums, and the arcane payment structures of talent agency packaging deals. For individual artists, City National offers wealth management tailored to volatile income - helping clients smooth out the financial rollercoaster of hit years and dry spells.

Wire transfers and international payments

For domestic wire transfers, City National uses the same routing number: 122016066. The bank's SWIFT code for international incoming wires is CINAUS6L. Thanks to RBC's global network, City National can facilitate international wire transfers with particular efficiency, a useful feature for entertainment clients who regularly move money to production locations in Canada, the UK, and Eastern Europe.

Wire transfer fees at City National vary by account type and relationship level. Private banking clients often receive reduced or waived wire fees as part of their service package.

How Slash handles the financial complexity of creative businesses

Production companies, agencies, and creative studios need banking that keeps pace with project-based finances: spinning up budgets, issuing cards to producers on location, and tracking spend across departments in real time. Slash was built for exactly this kind of operational velocity - with instant virtual cards for each project, granular spend limits by team or vendor category, and automated expense reporting that saves hours of manual reconciliation every month.

Where City National brought white-glove service to entertainment banking, Slash brings that same level of attentiveness through software, available to creative businesses of every size, not just those with a Beverly Hills rolodex.