RBC creates new AI Group to help bring top AI opportunities to market

Executive Summary

• RBC announced the formation of a new AI Group reporting directly to CEO Dave McKay, aimed at accelerating AI‑driven value creation across the bank.
• The group is led by veteran tech executive Bruce Ross as Group Head, AI; Naim Kazmi moves to Group Head, Technology & Operations.
• RBC targets up to $1 billion in enterprise value generated from AI benefits by 2027 and outlines a suite of recent AI‑related achievements (partnerships, patents, internal tools).

Key Details

• The AI Group will act as an “AI accelerator,” moving projects from early‑stage pilots to scaled client solutions while maintaining focus on security, responsible AI, and regulatory compliance.
• Bruce Ross brings 12 years of experience leading RBC Technology & Operations; he will continue reporting directly to the CEO and remain a member of the Group Executive.
• Naim Kazmi, previously EVP, Commercial Core Banking & Payments Technology, becomes Group Head, Technology & Operations and joins the Group Executive.
• RBC’s AI ambition includes:
• Partnership with Cohere to co‑develop “North for Banking,” an enterprise generative AI solution for financial services.
• Participation in MIT’s FinTechAI@CSAIL initiative for research on AI explainability, bias mitigation, LLM safety, cybersecurity, and financial crime prevention.
• Ranking #1 in Canada and #3 globally for AI maturity among 50 global banks (2025 Evident AI Index).
• Leadership role in FINOS; Bhupesh Vora appointed Chair of the FINOS Governing Board.
• Deployment of ATOM™ (proprietary Asynchronous Temporal Model) across 15 RBC products/processes in 2025.
• Adoption of RBC Assist by ~27,000 employees and Aiden by 8,000 Capital Markets staff.
• Operation of RBC Lumina™, a large‑scale GPU‑based internal AI platform.
• Over 1,200 patent filings since 2019, with 635 AI‑related patents.
• The group will also coordinate workforce preparation for AI adoption across >100,000 employees in 29 countries, partnering with HR and Learning teams to deliver training, tools, and support.
• Commitment to ethical AI development under RBC’s Responsible Artificial Intelligence Principles (accountability, fairness, privacy, security, transparency).

Notable Quotes

• “AI is a generational technology that enables us to reimagine what is possible… RBC is perfectly positioned to unlock the full potential of our people.” – Kelly Bradley, Chief Human Resources Officer, 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…” – Dave McKay, President & CEO, RBC.