Managing Disruption

1. Challenges to Address: Disruptive innovations in the market are reshaping the way that financial services are both provisioned and consumed. This is particularly evident in the youth segment, where evolving needs and out of category brand experiences and technology are shaping their expectations and are a force for innovation and change in the way financial institutions deliver value to this segment. International banks have achieved growth by creating a 'youth experience' that is fully differentiated from the mass market. However Canadian banks have taken a homogenous approach to youth and students that is largely product- and promotion-focused. Traditional banks/banking products and services are becoming irrelevant to this segment, and as a result we are open to the threat of disruption from new entrants. Digitization, new and different competitors are all converging to disrupt financial services and many other sectors. 2. Goal for the project: Identify 1 or 2 BIG IDEAS that solve a unique student/youth need and make RBC an indispensible and relevant part of their daily lives. Evaluation of these ideas should include: a) can it be authentically delivered to the market by RBC? b) is it disruptive and will it differentiate RBC in the marketplace? c) will it matter enough to make RBC the obvious choice for students/youth? 3. Why Choose RBC: RBC is one of Canada's largest banks and one of the largest banks in the world. We are one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies, and provide personal and commercial banking, wealth management, insurance, investor services and capital markets products and services on a global basis. We have over 80,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 35 other countries. As a purpose-driven organization, we are committed to helping our clients thrive and communities prosper. That's why we recently made our largest-ever corporate commitment in our nearly 150 year history: to invest in the future prosperity of young people. Working with young people and partnering with employers, educators and others, we aim to help remove barriers and provide access for young people to learn skills, gain valuable job experience, share knowledge and build resilience that will help to launch them and prepare for the future of work. Students will provide a 10+ page describing their analysis and recommendations. They will deliver a presentation to the class, and provide a YouTube video to your organization highlighting their key findings.