RBC Capital Markets wins 2021 Celent Model Sell Side Award for its Aiden® AI-powered electronic trading platform

Award highlights innovative, collaborative approach to deliver a real-world AI solution
that is helping improve trading results and insights for clients in an explainable way

NEW YORK, March 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - RBC Capital Markets has won the inaugural Celent Model Sell Side Award for its development of Aiden®, an AI-powered electronic trading platform built in partnership with Borealis AI. The award highlights RBC's vision to be one of the best in the world at unlocking the potential of AI for clients in a responsible and explainable way.

Celent's Model Sell Side Awards recognize the best practices of technology usage in different areas critical to success in capital markets. In order to win, the initiatives must demonstrate clear business benefits, innovation, and technology or implementation excellence.

"This award pays tribute to the massive collaborative effort between our traders and AI experts that went into the development of Aiden®, as well as our strong commitment to maintaining a client-centric focus in the delivery of all our services and solutions," Shary Mudassir, Co-head, Global Electronic Trading and Algorithms, RBC Capital Markets, said. "RBC has been reimagining the future of financial services, with a focus on anticipating client needs and solving for them in innovative ways. New technologies including AI are being developed and employed to add more insights and value to our clients – now and in the future. We look forward to continuing to innovate and build state-of-the-art solutions that move the needle for our capital markets clients."

The Aiden® platform officially launched in October 2020 with a VWAP algorithm available to RBC Capital Markets' global clients trading in U.S. and Canadian equities. In jointly developing Aiden®, both RBC Capital Markets and Borealis AI, a world-class AI research center created by RBC, undertook one of the biggest challenges in the field of AI today – applying deep reinforcement learning into a constantly changing environment like equities trading, with measurable and explainable results for its users.

The market volatility throughout COVID-19 has been a great proving ground for Aiden®.

"The big takeaway for us during some of the more volatile market conditions of COVID-19 has been that Aiden® was able to recognize the sudden changes in the market, adapt to them, and preserve performance for clients," Mudassir said. "The Aiden® VWAP algorithm is just the first foundational step in the platform's evolution. We believe there are many possibilities for how we can expand Aiden®'s ability to provide additional insights for our clients, as well as application to other trading strategies and asset classes."

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 86,000+ 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 17 million clients in Canada, the U.S. and 34 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/community-social-impact.

About RBC Capital Markets
RBC Capital Markets is recognized by the most significant corporations, institutional investors, asset managers, private equity firms, and governments around the globe as an innovative, trusted partner with an in-depth expertise in capital markets, banking, and finance. We are well-established in the largest, most mature capital markets with over 7,300 employees across North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region in 70 offices and 15 countries, collectively encompassing more than 80% of global investment banking activity each year.

About Borealis AI
Borealis AI is a world-class AI Research center backed by RBC. Recognized for scientific excellence, Borealis AI uses the latest in machine learning capabilities to solve challenging problems in the financial industry. Led by award-winning inventor and entrepreneur Foteini Agrafioti, and with top North American scientists and engineers, Borealis AI is at the core of the bank's innovation strategy and benefits from RBC's scale, data and trusted brand. With a focus on responsible AI, natural language processing and reinforcement learning, Borealis AI is committed to building solutions using machine learning and artificial intelligence that will transform the way individuals manage their finances and their futures. For more information please see: www.borealisai.com.

For more information on the Aiden^® platform, please visit: www.rbccm.com/aiden.

SOURCE RBC Capital Markets