What is City National Bank's AI strategy?
City National Bank does not publish an AI strategy of its own; its AI plan is Royal Bank of Canada's, delivered through shared US platforms. At RBC's March 27, 2025 investor day CEO Dave McKay set a target of $700 million to $1 billion of enterprise value from AI and cited more than 100 PhD scientists and over 850 AI developers and data engineers, and on February 18, 2026 RBC created a group-level AI Group under Bruce Ross. For City National itself the plan has been infrastructure first: executive chair Greg Carmichael said RBC was 'developing and building an IT infrastructure that allow us to operate as one RBC business', and RBC's 2025 annual report says City National focused on risk management across the three lines of defence. The one City National-inclusive AI disclosure is 'AI-powered insights' in the US Wealth Management digital platform. On May 28, 2026 McKay said RBC had developed over 200 AI models and that LLM token usage had risen over 500% since fiscal 2025; on September 9, 2026 he said City National's remediation and re-platforming costs would start to come down from the end of 2026. Jaya Kandaswamy, SVP for product, AI and innovation, is the bank's public AI voice. No City National AI budget, use-case count or user figure has been disclosed.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Data as of Oct 16, 2026 · City National profile updated Oct 13, 2026 · 22 sources cited on this page · 140 banks profiled on this site · Markdown
What have RBC and City National executives said about AI and City National since 2025?
In date order. The Scope column says whether a statement covers City National, the US businesses, or RBC as a whole; most AI figures are group-wide.
| Date | Who | What was said or disclosed | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 27, 2025 | Dave McKay, RBC CEO (investor day) | Ambition of $700 million to $1 billion in enterprise value from AI-driven benefits; more than 100 PhD scientists and over 850 AI developers and data engineers; ATOM, a patented large transaction model trained on over 65 billion client financial transactions; top three for AI maturity in the Evident AI Index for a second year | RBC group[1] |
| March 27, 2025 | Greg Carmichael, executive chair, RBC US and City National (investor day) | 'We're developing and building an IT infrastructure that allow us to operate as one RBC business'; savings from consolidating technology platforms; start of a migration to one RBC brand in the US | US businesses including City National[1][7] |
| March 27, 2025 | Neil McLaughlin, Group Head, RBC Wealth Management (investor day) | US advisers using RBC Borealis-built AI prepare for client meetings in less than five minutes rather than 45; 65% adviser adoption in the US | RBC Wealth Management US adviser desktop; City National not named[1] |
| December 3, 2025 | RBC 2025 annual report (Form 40-F) | US Wealth Management (including City National) lists 'enhancements to the digital platform with AI-powered insights'; 2026 objectives include 'Increase investments in technology' and, at City National, 'improving profitability, stability and scalability' | US Wealth Management including City National[3] |
| December 3, 2025 | Dave McKay (Q4 2025 call) | RBC Assist launched to over 30,000 employees; partnering with NVIDIA on agentic AI for the Aiden platform; the AI target is 'net of investments, including building on investments already made in data storage, GPU clusters, proprietary LLMs, risk governance and in people' | RBC group[8] |
| February 18, 2026 | RBC | AI Group created under Bruce Ross, reporting to the CEO, to turn high-potential AI use cases into market-ready solutions; almost 27,000 employees using RBC Assist and 8,000 Capital Markets employees using Aiden | RBC group[2][9] |
| March 2, 2026 | Joe Yurosek, president, commercial banking, City National | 'And we'll see AI disruptions. It's here. It's helping our clients. Our clients are adapting to this change.' | City National clients and vendors[10] |
| May 28, 2026 | Dave McKay (Q2 2026 call) | Over 200 AI models developed; LLM token usage up over 500% since fiscal 2025; AI has contributed to over 24 million lines of code and over 120,000 code reviews; RBC is adding relationship managers at City National Bank | RBC group; City National hiring[4] |
| August 27, 2026 | Dave McKay and Neil McLaughlin (Q3 2026 call) | RBC is 'accelerating the execution around our AI ambitions' toward $700 million to $1 billion by the end of fiscal 2027; wealth AI use cases are funded within the existing investment envelope | RBC group; Wealth Management[11][12] |
| September 9, 2026 | Dave McKay (Scotiabank summit) | City National's remediation and re-platforming costs 'will start to come down the end of 2026 into 2027'; 'We're just starting to deploy artificial intelligence into commercial auto adjudication and credit adjudication' | City National costs; RBC credit AI (City National not named)[5] |
| November 19, 2026 (scheduled) | Jaya Kandaswamy, SVP, Product, AI and Innovation, City National | American Banker panel on how agentic AI will change 'who controls the customer relationship' | City National[6] |
Who is responsible for AI and technology at City National Bank and RBC?
Roles as their employers describe them. City National names no chief AI officer.
| Person | Role | AI or technology remit |
|---|---|---|
| Jaya Kandaswamy | SVP, Product, AI and Innovation, City National | Leads initiatives that integrate emerging technologies and AI to enhance client experience with digital banking[13][6] |
| Michael Palmer | EVP and head of technology, City National; RBC US CIO | All bank technology, including 'the expansion and integration of City National and RBC capabilities'; US technology strategy, architecture and operating model[14] |
| David Cameron | EVP and chief operating officer, City National (new role, June 2026) | A newly unified COO group that integrates bankwide operations, controls and change management[15] |
| Bruce Ross | Group Head, AI, RBC (since February 2026) | Leads the AI Group, an accelerator to move from early-stage AI projects to scaled client outcomes; reports to the CEO[2] |
| Foteini Agrafioti | SVP and Chief Science Officer, RBC | RBC Borealis research; said of the ATOM foundation model: 'ATOM represents the future of banking at RBC'[16] |
What does City National not disclose about its AI?
City National has not disclosed an AI budget, a count of AI use cases, an AI user figure, or an AI model or vendor of its own. RBC's group figures do not break it out: the February 2026 release counts almost 27,000 RBC Assist users and 8,000 Aiden users across RBC with no City National line.[2]
Some RBC figures exclude it outright. RBC's 2025 annual report footnotes its count of 1,100-plus technologists hired in 2025, for a total of 5,300-plus core technology roles, 'Excludes City National Bank', and both the 2024 and 2025 reports leave City National out of learning-hours data because the subsidiary 'has not been integrated onto our primary HR platform'.[17][18]
RBC's 2025 annual report sets out Responsible AI Principles of privacy and security, accountability, fairness and transparency and responsible disclosure. City National has published no AI principles of its own, and its January 2024 OCC consent order, which requires validation of the models and thresholds in its BSA/AML monitoring systems, does not mention AI.[17][19]
What does the City National profile record on this topic?
The rows below are the entries of the City National AI strategy profile that bear on this page, as of Oct 13, 2026; the profile holds the full record of 24 dated moves, 10 use cases and 40 sources.
| Use case | What the record shows | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI-powered insights in the US wealth digital platform | RBC's 2025 40-F lists 'enhancements to the digital platform with AI-powered insights' under US Wealth Management, the segment that includes City National; no product name, user count or model vendor is given. | In production | [3] |
| Adviser productivity and back-office AI (RBC Wealth Management) | On the Q3 2026 call the head of RBC Wealth Management said AI use cases are funded inside existing technology spend, aimed at adviser time with clients, back-office cost and service levels, and 'AI for Alpha' in asset management. | Announced | [20] |
| Date | Move | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 9, 2026 | McKay at Scotiabank summit: remediation and re-platforming costs to fall; AI credit tools built | City National earned US$183 million (CAD 230 million) before remediation and re-platforming cost reductions that start from the end of 2026; RBC is deploying AI for commercial auto-adjudication and credit adjudication ('built, and we just demoed it to the board') and names mortgages as its largest AI use case. The adjudication tools are described at RBC level; City National is not named as a user. | [5] |
| Aug 27, 2026 | Wealth head: AI use cases funded inside the existing technology budget | Neil McLaughlin, CEO of RBC Wealth Management, says AI work on adviser productivity, back-office streamlining and 'AI for Alpha' sits within existing technology funding with no step-up required; US Wealth Management includes City National. | [20] |
| Aug 27, 2026 | Q3 call: US efficiency ratio 75%; remediation costs still falling | RBC's US region efficiency ratio is 75% year to date against a low-70s target. McKay says RBC is accelerating AI execution toward $700 million to $1 billion of enterprise value by fiscal 2027, and that City National is part of a 'change in investment in our platform, our risk platforms, our tech platforms'. | [20][11] |
| Mar 2, 2026 | 'AI disruptions. It's here.' | The commercial-banking president on weekly discussions of AI's impact on clients and vendors. | [10] |
| Feb 18, 2026 | RBC creates an AI Group under Bruce Ross | Reports to the CEO. Almost 27,000 employees use RBC Assist and 8,000 Capital Markets employees use Aiden; RBC cites 1,200+ patent filings since 2019, 635 related to AI. Group-level; City National usage is not broken out. | [2] |
| Jan 5, 2026 | RBC on preparing its workforce for AI | Borealis AI, founded 2016, described as a core strategic enabler. | [21] |
| Dec 3, 2025 | RBC's 40-F: AI-powered insights in the US wealth digital platform | US Wealth Management, the segment that includes City National, lists 'enhancements to the digital platform with AI-powered insights', RBC Premium Savings and record adviser recruitment among its 2025 investments. | [3] |
| Dec 3, 2025 | RBC raises its return target; AI could lift it further | ROE of at least 17% by 2027; another revision possible depending on AI deployment. | [22] |
| Jun 4, 2025 | Kandaswamy joins American Banker panel on fraud and identity verification | Session at Digital Banking on tools used to verify and authenticate customers and mitigate fraud risk; the speaker page lists her as SVP, Product, AI and Innovation, leading initiatives that integrate AI into digital banking. | [13] |
Does City National Bank have its own AI strategy?
Not a published one. City National's AI sits inside Royal Bank of Canada's plan, which targets $700 million to $1 billion of enterprise value from AI by the end of fiscal 2027. RBC's stated priorities for City National in 2025 and 2026 were risk management, profitability, stability and scalability, and moving onto shared RBC technology, with AI-powered insights in the US wealth digital platform the one City National-inclusive AI item.
How much is RBC investing in AI, and does it include City National?
RBC has not published an AI spending figure. It says its $700 million to $1 billion AI value target is net of investments in data storage, GPU clusters, proprietary LLMs, risk governance and people, and that it has developed over 200 AI models. Its user and hiring figures are group-wide; the 2025 annual report's technology hiring count explicitly excludes City National Bank.
Who leads AI at City National Bank?
Jaya Kandaswamy, senior vice president for product, AI and innovation, is the bank's public AI voice and is scheduled to speak on agentic AI at an American Banker summit on November 19, 2026. Michael Palmer runs technology and is RBC's US CIO. At group level, Bruce Ross has been RBC's Group Head, AI since February 2026, and Foteini Agrafioti is chief science officer.
What has City National itself said about AI?
Little on the record. Commercial banking president Joe Yurosek told the Los Angeles Business Journal in March 2026 that 'we'll see AI disruptions. It's here', describing AI's effect on clients rather than the bank's own use. Kandaswamy's American Banker sessions cover fraud and identity verification (2025) and agentic AI and 'who controls the customer relationship' (2026).
When will City National's technology costs fall?
RBC CEO Dave McKay said on September 9, 2026 that City National's remediation and re-platforming costs would start to come down from the end of 2026 into 2027. RBC's US region efficiency ratio improved from 83% in 2024 to 75% in the second quarter of 2026, against a target in the low 70s by 2027.
- Royal Bank of Canada Investor Day, March 27, 2025 (edited transcript)
- RBC creates new AI Group to help bring top AI opportunities to market
- Royal Bank of Canada Annual Report 2025, Management's Discussion and Analysis (Form 40-F exhibit)
- Royal Bank of Canada Second Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call, prepared remarks
- Royal Bank of Canada at Scotiabank summit: AI, growth lift returns (transcript)
- Jaya Kandaswamy, SVP, Product, AI and Innovation, City National Bank (Virtual Summits profile)
- 2025 RBC Investor Day Presentation (U.S. Strategy, Greg Carmichael)
- Royal Bank of Canada Fourth Quarter 2025 Results Conference Call, prepared remarks
- Royal Bank of Canada First Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call, prepared remarks
- Banking & Finance Quarterly: Riding Winds of Change (Los Angeles Business Journal interview with Joe Yurosek, reprinted by City National)
- Royal Bank of Canada Third Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call, prepared remarks
- Royal Bank of Canada (RY) (Q3 2026) Earnings Call Highlights
- Jaya Kandaswamy, SVP, Product, AI and Innovation, City National Bank (Digital Banking speaker)
- Michael Palmer, Executive Vice President and Head of Technology (leadership profile)
- David Cameron Named Chief Operating Officer of City National Bank
- RBC's proprietary AI foundation model for financial services aims to enhance personalized client experience
- RBC 2025 Annual Report ($700 million to $1 billion incremental enterprise value from AI by 2027)
- Royal Bank of Canada 2024 Annual Report
- Consent Order, City National Bank, Los Angeles, California (AA-ENF-2024-8)
- RBC (RY) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript (earnings call transcript, The Motley Fool)
- Tech @ RBC: Preparing our workforce for a future with AI
- RBC lifts its return target, downplays interest in US M&A
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