RBC announces expansion of Vancouver banking and innovation hub

Supported by 1,000 high-quality jobs in B.C., the hub will help advance RBC's AI ambitions

VANCOUVER, BC, May 29, 2026 /CNW/ - Royal Bank of Canada (TSX: RY) (NYSE: RY) RBC today announced plans to grow its presence in British Columbia by expanding the Vancouver banking and innovation hub. Since its opening last November, the hub has contributed to the city's vibrant tech ecosystem, offering meaningful employment in high-demand technology fields and commercial banking.

It expands RBC's current Vancouver Borealis AI hub, and integrates AI capabilities across cloud, cyber, digital and analytics to accelerate innovation. RBC recently announced its goal to achieve $700 million to $1 billion in enterprise value generated from AI-driven benefits by 2027 and has several use cases, all designed in a responsible way that meets regulatory requirements and keeps employee and client data safe. The hub will also serve key client groups within the bank's commercial banking business.

"RBC is building a more globally connected bank, and expanding our presence in British Columbia represents a tremendous opportunity for strategic growth and innovation," said Martin Thibodeau, RBC Regional President, British Columbia. "The hub helps connect Canadian business to international markets and opportunities, including in the thriving Indo-Pacific region, while helping us better serve global clients looking to invest and grow in Canada. We're excited to continue to bring transformational technology, enhanced client capabilities, real-time support and expanded employment opportunities to the province."

Located downtown, the Vancouver hub is expanding from 350 employees currently to 600 employees by the end of the year. By 2029, RBC's goal is to have 1,000 quality jobs supporting the hub across the province, with 440 of those being net new roles.

Helping build Vancouver's tech ecosystem
"Vancouver's rich talent base, west coast location, world-class academic institutions and the province's commitment to growing its emerging tech sector makes it the perfect choice for our innovation hub," said Naim Kazmi, Group Head, Technology and Operations, RBC. "By bringing new tech jobs in high demand areas, we hope to play a strategic role in helping the city continue to build its thriving tech ecosystem."

The expanded hub hosts a wide range of positions, including specialized technology roles in high-demand areas including AI and machine learning, cybersecurity and data science and targeted tech support for functional teams. It also includes growth in RBC's Vancouver Borealis team, which is widely recognized for scientific excellence in AI using cutting-edge science to build state-of the-art machine learning products. RBC was ranked #1 in Canada and #3 among 50 global banks for AI maturity in the 2025 Evident AI Index.

"AI is a generational change and due to our early investments in the space, RBC is well positioned to take advantage of its potential," said Bruce Ross, Group Head, AI. "Our Vancouver teams will play a big role in helping us prioritize and accelerate our strategic AI ambitions at scale and turn that potential into real value for our clients."

The Vancouver location is the latest addition to RBC's global network of technology hubs and innovation labs in places like Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, Halifax, Minneapolis, New York and London.

Enhanced financial services
The Vancouver hub is also home to teams in commercial banking supporting a wide range of roles from early talent to senior leadership levels. It serves as a centre of expertise on North America's west coast, offering outstanding commercial banking services to RBC clients both locally and globally.

For those interested in applying for career opportunities, visit https://jobs.rbc.com/ca/en for more information as roles become available.

Caution regarding forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of certain securities laws, including the "safe harbour" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and any applicable Canadian securities legislation, with respect to RBC's current beliefs, plans and expectations regarding future events and strategy. Forward-looking statements in this press release may include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to expectations and goals regarding the Vancouver Banking and Innovation Hub, including in relation to expanded business presence, employment opportunities and financial services offerings, and RBC's goal to generate up to $1 billion in value derived from AI benefits by 2027. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as "believe", "expect", "suggest", "seek", "foresee", "forecast", "schedule", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "goal", "commit", "target", "objective", "plan", "outlook", "timeline" and "project" and similar expressions of future or conditional verbs such as "will", "may", "might", "should", "could", "can", "would" or negative or grammatical variations thereof.

By their very nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific in nature, which give rise to the possibility that our predictions, forecasts, projections, expectations or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that our assumptions may not be correct, that our forward-looking statements, including statements about the Vancouver Banking and Innovation Hub, will not be achieved and that our actual results may differ materially from such predictions, forecasts, projections, expectations or conclusions.

We caution readers not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements as a number of risk factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors – many of which are beyond our control and the effects of which can be difficult to predict – include, but are not limited to: business and economic conditions in the geographic regions in which we operate, Canadian housing and household indebtedness, information technology, cyber and third-party risks, geopolitical uncertainty (including risks associated with escalating conflict in the Middle East), environmental and social risk, digital disruption and innovation, privacy and data related risks, regulatory changes, culture and conduct risks, credit, market, liquidity and funding, insurance, operational, compliance, reputation and strategic risks, other risks discussed in the risk sections of our 2025 Annual Report and the Risk management section of our Q2 2026 Report to Shareholders, including legal and regulatory environment risk, the effects of changes in government fiscal, monetary and other policies and tax risk and transparency, risks associated with escalating trade tensions, including protectionist trade policies such as the imposition of tariffs, risks associated with the adoption of emerging technologies, such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), including generative AI, and robotics, fraud risk and our ability to anticipate and successfully manage risks arising from all of the foregoing factors. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations in such forward-looking statements can be found in the risk sections of our 2025 Annual Report and the Risk management section of our Q2 2026 Report to Shareholders, as may be updated by subsequent quarterly reports.

We caution that the foregoing list of risk factors is not exhaustive and other factors could also adversely affect our results. When relying on our forward-looking statements to make decisions with respect to us, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events, as well as the inherent uncertainty of forward-looking statements. Material economic assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements contained in this document are set out in the Economic, market and regulatory review and outlook section and for each business segment under the Strategic priorities and Outlook headings in our 2025 Annual Report, as updated by the Economic, market and regulatory review and outlook section of our Q2 2026 Report to Shareholders. Such sections may be updated by subsequent quarterly reports. Any forward-looking statements contained in this document represent the views of management only as of the date hereof, and except as required by law, we do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.

About RBC
Royal Bank of Canada is a global financial institution with a purpose-driven, principles-led approach to delivering leading performance. Our success comes from the 101,000+ employees who leverage their imaginations and insights to bring our vision, values and strategy to life so we can help our clients thrive and communities prosper. As Canada's biggest bank and one of the largest in the world, based on market capitalization, we have a diversified business model with a focus on innovation and providing exceptional experiences to our more than 19 million clients in Canada, the U.S. and 27 other countries. Learn more at rbc.com.‎

We are proud to support a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities. See how at rbc.com/peopleandplanet.

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For more information, please contact:
Sarkiss Karayan, RBC Regional Director, Vancouver
Louise Armstrong, Senior Director, Communications, RBC Technology & Operations

SOURCE RBC