Royal Bank of Canada directed AI investments toward wealth management, asset management and consumer banking segments in its fiscal third quarter.  

The bank is accelerating AI initiatives as it targets up to CA$1 billion ($720 million) of enterprise value by the end of its fiscal 2027, Chief Executive Dave McKay said during today’s earnings call.  

“We are leveraging our advantages in data scale, client relationships, execution capabilities and nearly a decade of investments in our Borealis Research Institute,” he said. 

The Borealis Research Institute, created by Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in 2016, combines AI research, product development and data engineering to drive financial services innovation, according to the institute.  

Also pushing the bank toward its $720 million goal is its AI-powered retail credit underwriting platform, according to an Aug. 13 company release. 

The $1.8 trillion bank is investing across its wealth management business to boost advisers’ productivity “so they can go out and spend more time connecting with clients, continue to grow those individual portfolios,” Neil McLaughlin, group head of wealth management and insurance, said during the call.  

AI also enhances back-office processes in wealth management by streamlining end-to-end workflows, cutting costs and increasing service levels, he said.  

“The last portion is our AI for alpha and making sure that our global asset management business is getting the best signals they can and embedding that into the 30-plus customized investment processes to generate alpha,” McLaughlin said.  

Alpha refers to the performance of investments and quality of investment strategy, according to RBC. 

BY THE NUMBERS 

RBC reported for its fiscal Q3, which ended July 31:

• Revenue totaled $13.4 billion, up 9.1% year over year;
• Net income increased 11.3% YoY to $4.3 billion;
• Efficiency ratio was 52.8%, an improvement from 54.4% in Q3 2025; and
• Headcount totaled 101,269, up 4.3% YoY.  

RBC’s non-interest expenses for its personal banking segment rose 8.6% YoY to $1.5 billion, largely driven by digital and AI investments, Chief Financial Officer Katherine Gibson said during the call.  

Shares of RBC [NYSE: RY] were down 1.3% from market open to $204.54 as of market close today. It has a market capitalization of $284.2 billion.

Editor’s note: All amounts have been converted to U.S. dollars.     

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