Following success at Digital Banker’s Global Transaction Banking Innovation Awards, the Royal Bank of Canada was recently recognized by the 2026 IDC CIO Awards.
The annual affair honoured RBC for using artificial intelligence technology to reimagine retail credit underwriting.
“Traditionally, credit underwriting has been one of the most rule-bound processes in banking,” says Chris Phillips, Senior Vice President of Global Functions Technology at RBC.
RBC’s AI-enhanced retail credit underwriting was built on ATOM, the Big Bank’s proprietary foundation model trained on large-scale financial datasets.
“By bringing together modernized infrastructure and purpose-built AI capabilities, we have shown that even deeply embedded processes can be reimagined and in a way that benefits clients,” Phillips remarked.
Through its program, RBC can tailor credit offers to each client’s unique circumstances, leading to better decisions and more personalized experiences, according to Phillips—without adding risk for the financial institution.
Gopala Narayanan, senior vice president of retail risk for RBC, believes that “Innovation in financial services only creates lasting value when it is built on a foundation of sound risk management.”
“By combining the scale of our data, the strength of RBC Borealis with its AI capabilities, and rigorous governance, we’re making better decisions, delivering better client outcomes, and, in the process, creating sustainable competitive advantage,” Narayanan stated.
The award ceremony is slated for November at IDC’s CIO Summit Canada event in Toronto.
“This prestigious award celebrates exceptional Canadian organizations that are leveraging technology to drive digital transformation and deliver measurable business value within their organization,” stated Allice Shandler, CIO Awards Canada Program Chair.
Earlier this year, RBC created an AI Group to turn use cases into market-ready solutions.
RBC has also partnered with AI company Cohere and joined MIT’s FinTechAI@CSAIL initiative to access early-stage AI research.
The firm is the only Canadian bank in the top ten of the 2025 Evident AI Index.
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