HSBC: AI Will Transform the C-Suite and Customer Experience

HSBC is pushing the use of AI tools to drive innovation across its internal and customer-facing systems.

These developments come after CEO Georges Elhedery cited generative AI as a key investment area in an earnings call in February 2026, with plans to use the technology for employee assistance, process reengineering and customer experience. 

“Our ambition here is simple – we will empower our colleagues to use AI to create a personalised experience for each customer, deliver it safely, in real time and at scale, while keeping human judgement, decision-making and accountability at the core,” Georges said on the call.

As part of these growth plans, HSBC created its first ever Chief AI Officer role in March 2026, appointing previous Chief Operating Officer for Corporate and Institutional Banking, David Rice.

In addition to the new role, the company has also expanded CTO Mario Shamtani’s remit to strengthen HSBC’s technology foundations, modernising core systems and building a central AI platform accessible by employees and at the executive level.

Strengthening consumer trust

According to Georges, HSBC has already enabled 85% of its employees with generative productivity tools and is currently using the technology to redesign processes like fraud detection and credit applications.

“Our customer relationships are built on trust,” he added. “AI strengthens how we act on that trust, personalising service at scale.”

Customer demand for more tailored services is driving HSBC’s AI integration, with Georges highlighting that David’s Chief AI Officer appointment will be “instrumental” in aiding the bank’s AI ambitions.

In a video for VAST Data, David mirrors Georges’s views on AI and consumer impact, saying: “I think AI is effectively going to be the operating system that underpins how a bank works and interacts with its customer.”

Workforce restructuring

Since 2024, Georges has made several systemic changes to HSBC’s operating model, including the selling of business units and the reduction of its workforce to save costs.

At the end of 2023, HSBC employed around 220,000 people worldwide, a number that has since fallen to 210,000.

The bank is currently weighing up further job cuts as it considers AI as a measure to reduce operating costs, with as many as 20,000 roles at risk.

If carried out, it would mark one of the largest workforce reductions by a European bank in recent history and one of the most directly linked to AI automation.

Discussing HSBC’s plans to save costs with AI at a Morgan Stanley conference, Pam Kaur, CFO, said she was focusing on “the benefits we can get through AI, whether it’s on better productivity around the revenue line or just the cost benefit”.

AI: an agent for growth

The implementation of AI on a customer, employee and executive level is happening across the global banking industry.

According to data from McKinsey, global banks will rapidly increase their AI investments in the next few years. It estimates that generative AI could add between US$200bn and US$340bn in value annually across the banking sector.

Workforces will also feel the effect of AI growth, as a report from Bloomberg estimates that as many as 200,000 human-led banking positions in the next three to five years could be eliminated in favour of AI automation.

Other companies in the banking sector have outlined plans to gear investment towards AI, such as JP Morgan’s AI performance-writing tools, Citigroup’s AI employee training programme and UBS Group’s announcement of its own Chief AI Officer role.

AI adoption and the appointment of AI-focused roles are likely to increase in the next few years as executives continue to view AI as a significant agent for change, accelerating investment in both talent and technology.