London (AFP) – HSBC said Wednesday consultations were underway, after the Financial Times reported that hundreds of jobs were at risk from the bank’s adoption of artificial intelligence. “We are currently in a consultation period,” a spokesperson told AFP after the FT reported HSBC “is planning sweeping job cuts in its UK wealth management business …as part of a push to use AI to help serve wealthy clients.”
Citing “people familiar with the plans,” the business daily said “about half of the business’s management and specialist roles are expected to go, while the reduction in the ranks of financial advisers will be closer to 70 percent.” The London-headquartered bank does not specify how many people it employs in its UK wealth business, but it is thought to have hundreds of relationship managers, the FT added.
Earlier this year, HSBC chief executive Georges Elhedery said the bank was “empowering relationship managers with AI to help them serve customers faster, while at the same time personalising the experience by providing more relevant customer support.” He added in a report published on its website: “AI will change how work is done across industries, impacting some jobs, transforming others and creating entirely new roles that we’re only beginning to imagine.”
The HSBC spokesperson added Wednesday that the Asia-focused lender was “continuing to evolve to deliver more digitally-enabled products and journeys, to support our best-in-class wealth service and meet the changing needs of our customers.”
© 2024 AFP
