RBC is looking to its artificial intelligence electronic trading platform “Aiden” to steer global market clients through volatile times.

RBC CEO Dave McKay pointed to market and economic volatility “driven by heightened geopolitical risk, continued supply chain disruption, acute labor capacity shortages, energy market imbalances and resulting high inflationary conditions,” during the $1.4 trillion bank’s earnings call last week.

“Aiden, our AI-based electronic trading platform, has continued to gain traction, supporting our global markets clients during these volatile times,” McKay said. “We believe these investments have structurally enhanced the earnings power of capital markets franchise, and we expect to continue to drive pre-provision, pre-tax earnings above $1 billion per quarter through 2022.

“Our investment banking pipeline remains healthy given the near-term economic outlook and an increased desire from clients to accelerate their own growth strategies.”

RBC experienced 15% YoY growth, and a 9% compounded annual growth rate over the last three years, McKay said. The bank also saw increased engagement with its digital payment and investment products, including MyAdviser, which McKay said has nearly 3 million clients, up from 2 million from the previous year.

The bank also is investing in the technology and operational infrastructure for its Los Angeles-based “banker to the stars” subsidiary, City National, which it purchased in early 2015 for roughly $5.4 billion.

“We’re in the process of further investing in City National’s technology and operational infrastructure for the next phase of growth, including the deploying improved commercial lending and mobile banking platforms,” McKay said.

Earnings up at National Bank of Canada

National Bank of Canada also held its earnings call last week, reporting a net income of $735.3 million compared to $600.4 million in the first quarter of 2021.

The $289.5 billion bank noted it will bring its operations and technology teams together under the leadership of Julie Levesque, the executive vice president technology. Levesque has been responsible for the bank’s technology sector since 2020, said President and CEO Laurent Ferreira. The goal is to achieve efficiencies and accelerate the bank’s digital transformation, Ferreira added.

The bank had made recent IT investments aimed at improving automation of its processes and to leverage data, Ferreira added. She did not provide details during the call.

Technology spending rose YoY at the bank, reaching $179.9, up from $157.8 in 2020. The bank noted that technology expenses increased as “a result of significant technology investment made by the Bank for its transformation plan and for business development purposes.”

Shares of RBC were trading at $110.42 as of 4:41 p.m. Monday, down .063% as of market open. Shares of the National Bank of Canada were trading at $80.18 as of 4:21 p.m., down .68% as of market open.