TORONTO, May 21 (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Canada's ( RY )
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 include experts from global markets and
other teams at the bank, RBC 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 ( NVDA ) 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 ( BNKD ) 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)