Pricing & Product Enablement - My Fall & Winter with RBC Insurance. Introduction From September 2024 to April 2025, I was honoured to join a unique team within an established financial institution. In this report, I will reflect on my experience, regarding my continuous learning and professional development as a coop student.
Overall, I reflect on the importance of business and domain knowledge, data-driven digital transformation, and entreprise strategy/workplace cultures

1. About Employer: RBC Insurance, Group Annuity
2. My Position: Business Technology Analyst
3. Culture and Leadership: adapting and learning in new roles
4. Conclusion

RBC Insurance - Helping Clients thrive and communities prosper. About the employer Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) was founded on the Halifax waterfront in 1864 and is one of North America’s and the world’s leading diversified financial services companies.

In the 1960’s RBC Insurance was introduced, and currently serves millions, providing a vast array of life, health, travel, home and auto, creditor and business services, reinsurance products, and many more.

Today, RBCI’s vision for future-forward innovation, aligns with my overall interests as a student. With a clear focus on technical and strategic business improvement, I realized the significance of Client-Centered, Data-Driven, Digital Transformation.

My Team: Group Annuity, Pricing Technology My Role in the company (job description) The goals of Group Annuity is to provide reliable, de-risked pension plans for groups of employees. In essence, pensions are employment benefit plans providing income to someone after they stop working, hence, giving longevity to their finances.

Group Annuity—A Defined Benefit De-Risking Solution. If a company wants to arrange for a group of employees to receive a guarantee for their retirement benefits, they can transfer the risk of these payments to GA.

The Technology Product team is a newer side of the team which provides technical influences, product strategy, contributes to high-impact projects and support insights into the business and management support through continuous process improvement including database management, strengthening connections within data systems, analytics, automation, functional business documentation, and more to be discovered. The key takeaways I have kept from this experience which aligned with my work term goals:

1. Digital transformation and process improvement (with technology)

2. Developing understanding of new operational business functions for domain-specific analysis

3. The strengths of strong entreprise strategy and workplace culture, leadership, and values

Reflecting back, my role as the Business Technology Analyst Intern encompassed a variety of business/data/technological tasks enhancing documentation, quality validation, data consolidation and analysis, database management, code reviews, UAT, and more. The Technologies I engaged with include:

MS Excel, VBA, Access, Office Suite and other MS software (Visual Studio).

SQL & Python

Data Visualization Programs (Tableau)

Internal RBC Applications, etc.

The coolest part working with Insurance Specialists and Analysts was learning about new business concepts and practices.

Seeing the end-to-end information flow within the business, and how that connects to other teams and processes enhanced my understanding of data governance and product management as it relates to business objectives.

I had used DBMS tools and coding practices in coursework which provided a good background for conceptualizing their broader applications to the team. I previously had some experience processing Excel and VBA workbooks, SQL, and using MS Access which I expanded on and gained more insight to in this role which is beneficial for my professional development beyond this coop.

There are many opportunities for students in Computer Science. Moving forward, my goal is to continue enhancing my understanding of data management, analytics, business insights, and product design/management lifecycle development. As an analyst, the more you investigate the data and ask questions, the better you will understand it beyond just values, and see how it relates to the business - Kitbo Choi (My Manager), Oct. 2024.

Notable Mentorship Lessons My future career More specifically, the culture in the GA team is very positive and supportive which is no surprise when considering the overall success of the product. There were many qualities exemplified by those surrounding me which I will take as a lesson of success I can strive for in my career:

My direct supervisor, Kitbo consistently demonstrates strong project management and interpersonal leadership, acting as a liaison among many people. She connects well with others which allows those she works with to trust her with various responsibilities.

My internal team mentor, Sumeet has had over 10 years of experience working with data and technology. He has helped me learn many technical concepts and has given me advice on how to problem solve and apply my skills.

My director, Jared also has a strong presence and background in what he does, leading profits from the fiscal year.

The rest of the Group Annuity team for including, giving me new perspectives and advice as a young person navigating life, school, and the workplace. Being flexible and open to what life brings between diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Developping domain-specific research and insights.

I view all these people as leaders, with many years of experience who exemplify hard work, adaptability, balance, and continuous learners. As a young person, exploring the professional world, I find it appropriate the pensions and longevity team has given me foresight into the longevity of my career and personal development.

Positive Culture & Leadership - Professional Workplaces Fun experiences working in office Throughout my time, I was able to notice changes within decision making and seeing how teams were adapting to these changes. An example being a company wide re-org which moved our team to be under a different Sr VP. Watching products take a different approach and how that can shift a businesses focus is part of gaining experience outside the classroom as a coop student.
RBC is known for having strong values and leadership model. The company provides chances to meaningfully engage with others, participating in social opportunities such as:

Dave McKay visited the Meadowvale Office - insights from the CEO

RBCI Fall Gala - professional acknowledgement and celebration of accomplishments

RBC Employee Giving, Holiday Card Creating - community volunteering

Group Annuity End of Year Celebration - (Benihana Restaurant & slideshow party)

RBCI Fall Gala - professional acknowledgement and celebration of accomplishments

Diversity Expo - employee support groups and IDEI commitments

Tech Expo - digital and technical innovation

The Future of Insurance Conclusions & Acknowledgements Industry trends in all sectors indicate strong levels of data and digital driven transformation. I am reminded of statements from executive leaders who champion these qualities in RBC.
With this fall term ending, I will continue working in this position until April. Thus, as I go back to my key takeaways of my experience, I will continue to improve on these aspects with the rest of my work term.

1. Digital transformation and process improvement (with technology)
2. Developing understanding of new operational business functions
3. The strengths of strong workplace culture, leadership, and values

I want to thank RBC and my manager, Kitbo, and the GA teams for the opportunity. From onboarding, to learning from professionals with career experience, and going to events, everyone was super welcoming.

I also want to thank the UofG co-op coordinators and advisors for encouraging me to seek new opportunities such as this one.

With the start of the 2025 year, I hope to contribute to more initiatives to make a lasting positive impact on a team which has impacted me.

With the start of the 2025 year, I hope to contribute to more initiatives to make a lasting positive impact on a team which has impacted me.