Royal Bank of Canada has launched a new AI Group to accelerate the bank’s AI ambitions over the next several years.
Building on existing capabilities and top AI talent, the group will work closely with business and functional teams to turn high-potential AI use cases into market-ready solutions that bring value to clients.
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At RBC’s 2025 Investor Day, the bank outlined its bold ambition to achieve up to C$1bn in enterprise value generated from AI benefits by 2027.
“RBC has spent the past decade investing in AI, including proprietary data platforms and scale, exceptional talent and world-class security,” said Dave McKay, President and CEO, RBC.
“With generative and agentic AI opening new frontiers for financial services, we are creating a dedicated team to leverage our core strength and data scale and partner across the business to turn potential into real value for our clients.”
RBC has tapped veteran tech executive Bruce Ross to lead the new group as Group Head, AI. Ross has spent 12 years as Group Head of RBC Technology & Operations, during which time he has built a world-class team and technology platform, led digital transformation, overseen the complex integration of HSBC Bank Canada and driven major product developments.
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By GlobalDataAI accelerator for the bank
In his new role, Ross will lead a team that serves as an AI accelerator for the bank, with a focus on driving the shift from early-stage AI projects to scaled, client outcomes that amplify the impact of RBC’s people. He will continue to report directly to Dave McKay and will remain on Group Executive.
RBC Assist and Aiden
In addition to helping scale the biggest AI opportunities at RBC, the team will also be responsible for advancing research into emerging use cases across generative and agentic AI, while maintaining expertise in security, responsible AI and regulatory expectations.
Almost 27,000 employees are now using RBC Assist and 8,000 Capital Markets employees are using Aiden, RBC’s proprietary AI employee assistant tools to work faster and smarter and free up time for more meaningful work.
RBC has filed 1,200+ patent filings since 2019 with 635 related to AI, reflecting its overall commitment to AI innovation.
