RBC Bets $1 Billion on AI With New Dedicated Unit, Taps Tech Veteran to Lead Push
Royal Bank of Canada has created a standalone AI division to accelerate deployment of artificial intelligence across its operations, a move that comes after the bank projected it would generate up to C$1 billion in enterprise value from AI initiatives in 2027.
The formation of the new AI Group signals RBC's intention to move beyond experimental projects and scale AI tools across its 27,000-employee workforce, positioning the Canadian lender as one of the more aggressive adopters of the technology among global banks. The bank has tapped Bruce Ross, a veteran technology executive who previously served as group head of technology and operations, to lead the unit.
RBC has been building toward this moment for years. The bank ranks among the top five global lenders for publishing AI research, according to the source announcement, and has already deployed proprietary tools that are seeing significant internal adoption. Nearly 27,000 employees now use RBC Assist, while 8,000 Capital Markets staff rely on Aiden, the bank's AI-powered employee assistant designed to automate routine tasks and free up time for higher-value work.
The bank's internal AI research unit has also developed Atom, a proprietary model currently being used to improve credit adjudication and personalize loyalty programs—two areas where speed and accuracy directly impact revenue and customer retention.
"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, in a statement. "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."
The new AI Group will function as an internal accelerator, with a mandate to shift early-stage AI projects into production-ready deployments at scale. The team will also advance research into emerging use cases across generative and agentic AI—the latter referring to AI systems capable of taking autonomous actions rather than simply responding to prompts.
For CFOs watching the AI investment cycle, RBC's move represents a notable shift from experimentation to institutionalization. By creating a dedicated unit with executive-level leadership, the bank is signaling that AI deployment is no longer a technology initiative but a business transformation priority with measurable financial targets attached.
The C$1 billion enterprise value projection for 2027, disclosed in December, suggests RBC has identified specific use cases with quantifiable returns—a level of financial clarity that remains rare among banks publicly discussing their AI strategies. Whether that value materializes in cost savings, revenue growth, or risk reduction will be closely watched by finance leaders evaluating their own AI investments.
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