RBC is using Salesforce’s agentic AI technology to reduce the time wealth advisors spend preparing for client meetings, according to Salesforce Canada Country Manager Dave Borrelli.
During an interview at Dreamforce in San Francisco, Borrelli identified RBC’s wealth business as one of his favourite examples of a Canadian company putting artificial intelligence to practical use.
Wealth advisors can spend one or two hours preparing to meet with a high-net-worth client, searching internal systems and assembling the information they need for the conversation.
With Salesforce’s Agentforce technology, Borrelli said an advisor can generate a client briefing in minutes.
“It basically pumps out a briefing with everything they would have had to spend an hour to search for,” he said.
The objective is not to replace the advisor, but to give them more time to meet with clients and provide advice. If an advisor can conduct two or three additional meetings, the productivity benefits can become significant when multiplied across a larger wealth-management organization.
Borrelli said the example illustrates how AI is more likely to reshape many financial-services jobs than eliminate them outright.
“It’s not going to be a job apocalypse, but it’s going to make it so much more efficient,” he said.
The RBC example also reflects Salesforce’s argument that businesses should begin with narrow, measurable AI applications rather than attempt sweeping transformations from the outset.
Canadian organizations sometimes delay projects because they believe they require perfect data, fully modernized systems and extensive AI expertise before getting started. Borrelli said no company can meet all those conditions.
Instead, businesses can select one workflow, measure the results and use the savings or increased capacity to support their next deployment.
AI applications that prepare advisors for meetings fit that model because the existing task is clearly defined and the time saved can be measured. Advisors retain responsibility for the client relationship and any judgment involved, while the agent handles the search and preparation work surrounding the meeting.
The approach reflects a broader shift underway in Canadian wealth technology. Toronto-based Focal AI recently launched an agentic platform that handles meeting preparation, follow-up emails, CRM updates, forms and compliance records for financial advisors.
Winnipeg-based Conquest, whose financial-planning technology is used by RBC and other major institutions, is similarly adding AI capabilities designed to help advisors deliver personalized advice more efficiently.
Financial institutions are among the Canadian enterprises paying close attention to the return on AI investments. Borrelli said Canadian buyers typically investigate the expected return and potential risks of technology projects more deeply than their American counterparts.
That caution has historically served Canadian businesses well, but he believes companies should not wait for AI systems to become perfect before deploying them.
“We’re in a world where we just have to get started with AI,” Borrelli said. “Companies will learn as we go.”
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