HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery Warns AI Will Reshape Banking Jobs

HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery has warned that AI will both create and displace roles across the financial industry, as the bank plans to retrain its workforce to adapt to the shift.

Speaking at an HSBC investor day event, Georges said employees must embrace AI-driven transformation rather than resist it, working alongside the organisation to navigate the evolving technology landscape.

He positioned the transition as a collective effort across employees, leadership and HR, focused on integrating AI responsibly while maintaining pace.

“We all know gen AI will destroy certain jobs and will create new jobs,” Georges notes.

“But my initial mission is to have 200,000 colleagues with us on this journey. However, many will be left at the end of the journey isn't the problem.

“The problem is how can we make sure that those 200,000 colleagues have been given all the capabilities, the training, the tools to make themselves future ready, be more productive versions of themselves.”

He added that HSBC employees must ensure they are “not fighting” the organisation on these developments or “resisting the change”.

Instead, he emphasised the need for constructive engagement, enabling staff to access the training, tools and support required to transition into new roles as legacy processes become automated.

Georges concluded that making the bank “future ready” remains his top priority, underpinned by what he described as the “enormous opportunity” presented by AI.

Delivering on that vision, he suggested, will depend on equipping employees with the right capabilities while sustaining transformation momentum.

The rush to save costs and drive automation

Georges' comments on AI and its future impact come just a day after rival Standard Chartered unveiled plans to cut thousands of roles globally over the coming years, becoming one of the first major banks to explicitly link workforce reductions to AI adoption.

For senior HR leaders, the direction of travel is clear: operating models are being rearchitected around automation, demanding proactive role evolution, large-scale reskilling and strategic redeployment.

Speaking at a Hong Kong investor event, Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters said the bank intends to replace “lower-value human capital” with technology and other strategic investments.

“We don’t have job losses, but we do have job role reductions in favour of the machines,” Bill told the event’s audience, “and that will accelerate as we go forward into AI.”

He added that the roles impacted are predominantly non-client-facing.

The bank has outlined plans to reduce 15% of its corporate function roles by 2030, a move that could result in more than 7,000 redundancies across its global workforce of 80,000 employees.

Taken together with HSBC’s position, the developments point to a broader convergence across financial institutions as they balance cost and productivity pressures with the rapid deployment of frontier AI capabilities.

Empowering employees and customers with AI

HSBC’s decision to appoint David Rice as its inaugural Chief AI Officer in March 2026 reflects a coordinated, enterprise-level commitment to embedding AI across the organisation, with a focus on improving returns through cost discipline while simplifying and automating core processes.

On an earnings call in February 2026, Georges highlighted Gen AI as a central pillar of the bank’s investment strategy, pointing to use cases spanning employee enablement, process redesign and enhanced customer engagement.

“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.

That focus on retaining human accountability reinforces the importance of structured workforce enablement, including targeted upskilling, strengthened governance frameworks and incentive models aligned to responsible AI usage.

HSBC’s investor materials indicate that several core areas – such as onboarding and Know Your Customer, financial risk and monitoring, contact centres and wealth management – are already being reshaped through AI-driven initiatives.

These functions are typically labour-intensive, where automation combined with augmentation can significantly enhance efficiency, precision and customer outcomes – contingent on employees being supported with the tools and training required to move into higher-value activities like exception management, advisory services and complex decision-making.

Research from McKinsey suggests banks globally are preparing to accelerate AI investment in the years ahead, with Gen AI alone projected to generate between US$200bn and US$340bn in annual value across the sector.

For HR leaders, capturing that opportunity will hinge on execution: developing AI literacy across leadership and frontline teams, formalising reskilling and redeployment pathways and embedding clear accountability for safe and ethical AI use as it becomes embedded in everyday workflows.