Blockchain, AI, Internet of Things Will Change Banking, RBC CEO Says

(Bloomberg) -- Royal Bank of Canada Chief Executive Officer Dave McKay said he sees blockchain maturation, the spread of artificial intelligence and the so-called internet of things as three big technological developments that will change banking in coming years.

Blockchain and digital coins aren’t fully mature yet, but they will continue to evolve, McKay said during a virtual discussion as part of the Sibos financial-services conference. AI, which Royal Bank already has embedded in a trading platform, will expand to more and more decisions, and more data will be affected by machine learning, he said.

The advent of fifth-generation telecommunications networks and the internet of things -- a term used to describe the growing number of devices and appliances connected to the internet -- represent a combined “transformational technology that are about to hit us,” McKay said.  

“It’s going to explode the number of transactions, the complexity of those transactions and the need for us to yet again evolve our capabilities to be in many more points than we were before,” McKay said in response to a question from Neil McLaughlin, Royal Bank’s head of personal and commercial banking. “It’s going to be an incredible opportunity for us to build for the future, but it’s an incredibly complex world.”   

In particular, that transformation will make cybersecurity more challenging by opening up many more points of vulnerability and creating a larger “perimeter” that banks will have to defend, McKay said.  

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.