RBC sets up new AI team for capital markets unit
FILE PHOTO: The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) logo is seen on a building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada June 1, 2021. REUTERS/Chris Helgren/File Photo
TORONTO (Reuters) -Royal Bank of Canada's capital markets wing has established a new artificial intelligence and digital innovation team as it bets on AI to boost future growth, the Canadian lender told Reuters on Wednesday.
The team, with hubs in New York, Toronto and London, will report to newly appointed Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer Lindsay Patrick.
RBC also appointed Bobby Grubert as head of AI and Digital Innovation, reporting to Patrick. Grubert worked on Aiden, RBC's first generative AI solution, and RBC Elements, its data-powered research capability.
The new team will be formed by appointing talent from across RBC's global market business, the lender said.
RBC in March said it expects to earn up to about C$1 billion ($722.02 million) from its AI investments, emphasizing the pivotal role the technology will play in the largest Canadian bank's next growth phase.
CEO Dave McKay told investors in March that the bank's technology has received positive responses from the likes of chipmaker Nvidia's CEO, Jensen Huang, and that the lender is betting on AI to speed up training, streamline processes and more.
RBC's capital markets head, Derek Neldner, noted that the unit has been scaling and leveraging Aiden, RBC's GenAI solution developed in partnership with research institute Borealis, for electronic trading, automation of front-to-back operations and data-driven research and insights.
AI is becoming a key tool for banks globally, which are using it to streamline customer communications, process documents, spot fraudulent activity and automate other mundane tasks.
Rival Bank of Montreal also named a chief AI and data officer, while other banks have said they are making investments to boost their capabilities.
($1 = 1.3850 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in TorontoEditing by Matthew Lewis)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
7 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Nato chief urges 400pct rise in alliance's air defence
LONDON: Nato head Mark Rutte on Monday urged a "quantum leap" in defence capabilities including a "400-per cent increase" in air and missile defence to shield the alliance against Russia. His comments came as he pushes for Nato members to commit to ramping up defence spending at a key summit of the western military alliance later this month. "We see in Ukraine how Russia delivers terror from above, so we will strengthen the shield that protects our skies," the Nato secretary general said in a speech to the Chatham House think-tank in London. To maintain credible deterrence and defence, Nato needs "a 400-per cent increase in air and missile defence", the former Dutch prime minister added. "The fact is, we need a quantum leap in our collective defence," he said. Rutte is urging Nato members to commit to 3.5 per cent of GDP on direct military spending by 2032, and an additional 1.5 per cent on broader security-related expenditure. The proposal is a compromise deal designed to satisfy US President Donald Trump, who has demanded that allies each spend five per cent of economic output on defence, up from a current commitment of two per cent. Rutte said he "expects" leaders to agree to the proposal at the summit of the 32-country alliance on June 24-25 in The Hague. "It will be a Nato-wide commitment and a defining moment for the alliance," he said in his speech. Russia condemned Rutte's comments before he took to the stage, denouncing Nato as "an instrument of aggression". Nato "is demonstrating itself as an instrument of aggression and confrontation", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow. Rutte's speech came after he met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, their second Downing Street talks since the Labour leader came into power in July 2024. Starmer's government this year pledged to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027, but has not yet set a firm timeline for further hikes. On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Canada would hit two per cent this year. US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said last week the allies were close to an agreement on the split five-per cent target. "That combination constitutes a real commitment, and we think every country can step up," he said on Thursday. Nato members have been scrambling to bolster their defence capabilities since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Trump's return to the White House in January, and question marks over his commitment to European security, has added urgency. "Danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends," Rutte said at Chatham House. "We must have more forces and capabilities to implement our defence plans in full." He added that Russia currently produces the same amount of ammunition in three months as "the whole of Nato produces in a year". "Our militaries also need thousands more armoured vehicles and tanks, millions more artillery shells," Rutte added. Britain announced plans last week to build up to 12 nuclear-powered attack submarines and six munitions factories to rearm the country in response to what it said were threats from Russia. Rutte also warned that China is "modernizing and expanding its military at breakneck speed". "Nato has to become a stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance," he added. And he warned that if countries cannot commit to 5.0 per cent for defence spending "you could still have the National Health Service, or in other countries, their health systems, the pension system, etc, but you better learn to speak Russian. I mean, that's the consequence". - AFP
The Star
8 hours ago
- The Star
Does the US ‘need' Canada?
US President Donald Trump had one big question on his mind as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney headed to Washington last month. 'I very much want to work with him, but cannot understand one simple TRUTH,' Trump said in a social media post, reiterating several ways he believes Canada benefits unfairly from its trade relationship with the United States. The president also repeated his incorrect claim that the United States is 'subsidising' Canada to the tune of US$200bil, alluding to the country's trade deficit with Canada, which is the value of what the United States imports minus its exports. In fact, the trade deficit last year was US$63.3bil, according to US data. And if Canada's energy exports were stripped out, it turns into a trade surplus. For Trump, it all boils down to one point: does the United States need Canada? 'We don't need their cars, we don't need their energy, we don't need their lumber, we don't need ANYTHING they have, other than their friendship,' he said in the social media post. But industry groups say differently. The auto industries in Canada and the United States have become highly interconnected over the past three decades – especially between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, the busiest commercial crossing along the border – as the countries knocked down trade barriers. In 2023, the US imported about 1.24 million vehicles from Canada, the fourth-highest tally behind Mexico, Japan and South Korea. The US is the world's top oil producer, but its refineries rely on crude oil, a variety that Canada specialises in extracting. Retooling US refineries to eliminate the need for crude oil would cost billions and companies are not willing to make those investments, especially because of the uncertainty over Trump's trade policies. Besides oil, Canada in 2023 supplied nearly 100% of the natural gas and 85% of the electrical energy imported by the US, according to Canada's energy regulator. Canada also provides more than one-fourth of the uranium the United States imports to run nuclear reactors, federal data shows, more than any other nation. Howard Lutnick, the US Commerce Secretary, is investigating whether lumber imports are a threat to national security. In 2021, the United States purchased US$28bil worth of lumber from Canada, nearly half of lumber imports. American industry groups have estimated that the tariffs on lumber that Trump has introduced will increase home costs by an average of about US$9,000. For now, the US lumber industry cannot meet the demand from homebuilders, according to a recent analysis by Fastmarkets, and it would take the country at least 10 years to whittle down its need for imported lumber. Farmers this year were reminded of the US agriculture industry's reliance on Canadian imports of key chemical ingredients used in fertiliser, like potassium-rich minerals called potash. The United States imports 85% of its potash from Canada, which is the world's largest exporter of the minerals. But Trump's tariffs on Canada will make potash more expensive for farmers to import and the increases could be passed down to grocery store shoppers, according to the Fertilizer Institute, a US industry group. Trump says the US needs Canada's friendship. Many Canadians say forget about it. The usually warm relationship between the two countries is in tatters, with Canada invoking a defensive tactic used in hockey – 'elbows up' – as its posture against Trump's economic attacks and threats to make Canada a US state. Toronto residents Douglas Bloomfield (right) and son Phoenix holding a Canadian flag and an ice hockey stick in front of the White House as a protest against US tariffs. — AP Canadians have taken to boycotting American-made products and shirking summer travel to the US, with the number of flights scheduled to the country from Canada down by 21%, a New York Times analysis shows. — ©2025 New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times
The Star
11 hours ago
- The Star
Crypto funds' assets hit record high as investors hedge and diversify
Representations of cryptocurrency bitcoin are seen in this illustration picture created in Paris, France, March 9, 2024. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/Illustration (Reuters) -Assets held in crypto funds hit a record high in May as easing trade tensions lifted risk appetite and some investors used the digital currencies to hedge against market volatility and diversify from their U.S. holdings. Morningstar data on 294 crypto funds shows they attracted $7.05 billion in net inflows last month, the highest since December, bringing total assets under management to a record $167 billion. Nicolas Lin, CEO of fintech firm Aether Holdings, said bitcoin "is starting to come into its own again", not just as a high-volatility asset, but as something that more investors are using to hedge their exposure. Bitcoin has gained more than 15% over the past three months, outperforming a 3.6% rise in the MSCI World Index and a 13.3% gain for gold. Nic Puckri, analyst and founder of Coin Bureau, said one of the main drivers of bitcoin's rise is a loss of faith in the U.S. investment story. "The greenback is projected to keep plummeting, bond yields are rising, there's uncertainty about the equity markets. But bitcoin seems to be holding strong." Bitcoin has been buoyed by institutional inflows over the past year following the approval of spot bitcoin and ether ETFs in the United States. In contrast to the crypto funds, Lipper data showed a net $5.9 billion flowed out of global equity funds in May, while gold funds posted their first outflow in 15 months, of $678 million, pointing to a broader shift in portfolio diversification. "I think flows will stay strong, but probably more steady than the rush we saw after the ETFs launched," said Aether Holdings' Lin. "That initial wave was a bit of a release valve. What's happening now is more important, it's the start of crypto becoming a permanent fixture in diversified portfolios." According to Coinshares data, bitcoin funds attracted a net $5.5 billion and ether funds a net $890 million in May.
