RBC
Financial Services · rbcroyalbank.com
14 out of 20 Trust-aware
Answers the phone in two clicks and lists a privacy office you can write to. Ask to see what it holds about you and the only route is correspondence.
How many clicks to find the privacy policy from the homepage?
Two clicks. Footer “Privacy and Security”, then “Our Global Privacy Notice”. The first click lands on a well-built privacy hub with several documents clearly labelled; the notice itself opens as a web page with accordion sections.
Is there a meaningful choice about cookies and tracking before data is collected?
A real choice, one step away. “Accept All Cookies” is a solid blue button and “Manage Cookie Settings” is outlined beside it, opening category-level control over Performance, Personalization and Advertising. The choice is genuine and honestly labelled. It is just not offered with the same weight as agreeing, and the three optional categories arrive switched on, so a visitor who never opens the panel has agreed to all of them.
How hard is the policy to read, how much of it is there, and can you get it in one piece?
Grade 13.0 across 5,357 words, spread over three documents. Difficulty 1, length 2, access 2. This is the score that moved most in the August remeasurement, from 4 to 2, and access is why: the Global Privacy Notice, Online Privacy, and Advertising & Cookies are separate pages a reader has to find and put together, with content behind tab controls and a link that opens in a second window. Readability formulas cannot see any of that, which is the reason Clarity is no longer measured by grade alone. Measure it yourself.
How many clicks to reach data settings, and can you delete your account yourself?
No self-serve route, but a privacy office you can actually find. To access, correct, restrict, port or delete your information the notice says you “may write to, or send an email to the branch or office where you do business”, and a dedicated privacy contact page sits inside the privacy hub, two clicks from the footer. That is the difference between a bank that has no route and one whose only route is correspondence. The Consumer Privacy Request Form that does exist serves California residents only, so the one online mechanism a Canadian can see is one they are not eligible to use.
Find the support page. How many clicks, and is there a way to speak to a human?
A human in two clicks, no login. Homepage “Contact Us”, then “Call Us”, with numbers listed by category and TTY services included. The non-client number is surfaced explicitly on the appointment page, so you do not have to be a customer to reach someone.
Overall finding
14 out of 20 Trust-aware
RBC lands mid-table among the Canadian banks, and its shape is the sector’s shape: easy to reach, hard to act. It will put a person on the phone in two clicks and give you a named privacy office to write to, and then every data right runs through correspondence. The one thing that would move this score is the thing Desjardins already built, a request form on the public website, and RBC could add it in an afternoon.
Revised 7 August 2026
Scored 15 until 6 August 2026, then 13. Rescored 7 August at 14, when all five Canadian banks were observed inside one week so they could be compared on equal terms. Control moved from 1 to 2: the scale awards a 2 for a dedicated, clearly labelled privacy contact that is easy to find, and RBC has one inside its privacy hub, where the May scoring had recorded a 1 for the absence of a self-serve route. Clarity was re-measured and came back identical, 13.0 across 5,357 words. The change moves RBC into Trust-aware.
- Scored
- 18 May 2026
- Rescored
- 7 August 2026
- Region
- Canadian site, private window
- Session
- Logged out
Scored from public evidence only. No company can pay to change a score, and paid relationships are disclosed here. Read the independence statement.