Canada’s financial institutions are moving faster than ever to embed artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure into their operations, according to recent industry assessments that place the country’s largest banks among global leaders while smaller, challenger institutions chart their own paths to modernization.
The Evident AI Index for Banks, now in its fifth edition, measures AI maturity across 50 of the world’s largest banks using four weighted categories: Innovation, Talent, Leadership and Transparency. According to Evident, which launched the index in 2023, AI deployment across the banking sector this year moved nearly three times faster than in previous editions. Canada’s five largest financial institutions all made the list.
RBC Holds Steady at the Top
Leadership rankings at the top of the index have proven “remarkably stable,” Evident said, with the Royal Bank of Canada placing on the podium for the fifth consecutive edition — grouped alongside JPMorganChase and Capital One as what Evident called “the undisputed top three.” Evident co-founder Alexandra Mousavizadeh has described banking as “one of the most advanced and competitive industries on the planet when it comes to developing and rolling out AI at scale,” a dynamic Canadian lenders have not been exempt from.
Below the leading institutions, Evident noted that “the race is tightening” as the overall bar for AI leadership rises industry-wide. CIBC was recognized with the Best Gen-AI Initiative and Best Digital Transformation Program awards at the Global Transaction Banking Innovation Awards, where TD, RBC and Scotiabank were also honoured. RBC, which has established its own in-house AI group this year, was additionally recognized by the 2026 IDC CIO Awards. Beyond AI, RBC has also been investing in quantum computing companies and rolling out a multi-year quantum strategy with partners. Separately, Canada’s major banks are reported to be collaborating on a Canadian dollar-based digital money solution.
A Smaller Bank Builds Its Own Digital Platform
While the largest institutions compete at the frontier of AI deployment, smaller federally regulated lenders are also undertaking significant technology overhauls. Haventree Bank, a Schedule 1 bank with a long history in alternative lending, launched a digital bank in July — its first direct-to-consumer offering, giving customers access to growth accounts and a GIC.
Rather than licensing a white-label digital banking solution, Haventree built its platform from the ground up, owning its core system, payments infrastructure and data layer. Salil Vijay, Haventree’s Chief Product and Innovation Officer, said the bank weighed both options early on and chose to build where there was room to differentiate the client experience, while buying in areas where functionality wasn’t a competitive differentiator. “If we used a third-party platform, we would essentially be renting out our roadmap,” Vijay said, adding that full ownership supports long-term flexibility, cost control and intellectual property ownership, even if it sacrifices some initial speed to market.
Vijay pointed to shifting consumer behaviour as part of the rationale: “Canadians no longer want to be tied down to one bank,” he said, noting growing interest in fintech-style services such as credit-building tools, easier movement of money between institutions, simplified onboarding and family or household spend management.
Transforming Without Disrupting Existing Operations
Haventree’s transformation took place while its existing mortgage lending business continued to operate. Vijay described a phased rollout: deposit and digital banking products launched first on new architecture while legacy systems kept running, supported by heavy testing, controlled pilots, and staged releases involving employees and friends-and-family groups before wider customer access. Cross-functional teams spanning product, technology, operations, risk, compliance and customer support worked together to validate each release, a model Vijay said the bank is repeating as it prepares to launch registered products and remote deposit capture.
Vijay characterized Haventree’s approach as building “like a fintech” while operating with the risk management, compliance and lending expertise of a federally regulated bank — a contrast, he said, to many fintechs that start with strong user experience but spend years building regulatory credibility and trust. With its own architecture now in place, he said the bank has shifted from project-based technology delivery to continuous iteration, allowing it to adapt designs — such as extending its deposit-focused onboarding experience to mortgage clients — without being constrained by a vendor’s development cycle.
Together, the developments illustrate two different tracks within the same broader shift: large incumbent banks racing to deepen AI capability and compete on global benchmarks, and smaller regulated lenders investing in owned digital infrastructure to compete on customer experience and speed of innovation.
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