RBC partners with Cohere on AI financial platform

A Royal Bank of Canada sign and a Canadian flag are pictured in Ottawa on Thursday, June 27, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

RBC says it has partnered with Cohere Inc. to develop generative artificial intelligence products for the financial industry.

It says the partnership will help create more accurate and verifiable models with a focus on risk and security.

Toronto-based Cohere says the collaboration will use its newly launched North AI workspace to build a customized version for finance that will meet the security and privacy needs of the industry.

Ivan Zhang, a co-founder of Cohere, says the new platform will help financial industry firms increase productivity and efficiency.

RBC says it already uses AI in customer service, staff guidance, and to help the productivity of research analysts in its capital markets business, while TD says it uses AI to help its call centre staff.

Last October, Evident AI ranked RBC as third globally in the banking sector on AI adoption and maturity, while TD was ranked ninth and Scotiabank, CIBC and BMO came in the low 20s.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 9, 2025.