The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has joined forces with generative AI specialist Cohere to develop North for Banking, a state-of-the-art AI-powered platform designed specifically for the financial services sector. Leveraging both RBC’s expertise and Cohere’s innovative AI models, North for Banking is set to deliver enhanced data security and privacy capabilities tailored to the intricate needs of the banking industry. This collaboration represents a significant step in the evolution of AI applications for financial services, addressing increasing demands for secure, scalable, and efficient digital solutions.
North for Banking will be fine-tuned using Cohere’s foundation models and seamlessly integrated into RBC’s operations, offering an end-to-end AI solution. Ivan Zhang, co-founder of Cohere, emphasized the platform’s unique strengths, stating: “North for Banking will be an end-to-end AI solution that financial industry firms can seamlessly integrate to increase workforce productivity and operational efficiency. By prioritizing security and data privacy protections, companies can have peace of mind as they deploy it internally at scale.”
The collaboration also builds on RBC’s established leadership in AI. Recently ranked first in Canada and third globally for AI maturity by the Evident AI Index, RBC has already demonstrated tangible successes with generative AI implementations. For instance, the bank’s AI-driven solutions have been instrumental in its advice centers, where they enable advisors to address client queries with greater speed and precision. Similarly, within the bank’s capital markets division, AI tools have streamlined workflows and boosted research analyst productivity.
Foteini Agrafioti, RBC’s Senior Vice President at Borealis AI and Chief Science Officer, highlighted the transformative potential of the partnership. “We are already seeing the positive impact of GenAI technology in applications we’ve put into production, including in our advice centre and our Capital Markets business,” she said. “Cohere is unique among its commercial peers in providing the level of flexibility and collaboration that we need to take the next step in our AI journey and increase productivity across the enterprise. We look forward to exploring deployment of this solution in various use cases over the next several months.”
The launch of North for Banking also underscores a broader shift toward leveraging generative AI to address complex operational challenges in the financial sector. With increasing regulatory scrutiny and evolving customer expectations, financial institutions face significant pressure to innovate securely. The partnership between RBC and Cohere exemplifies how collaborative AI development can tackle these challenges, balancing operational efficiency with robust compliance and security frameworks.
Beyond immediate applications, the development of North for Banking sets the stage for RBC to unlock a wide range of AI-driven functionalities across its enterprise. These may include enhanced fraud detection, predictive analytics for customer behavior, and automated reporting systems—all underpinned by a commitment to maintaining top-tier security standards.