HSBC CONSULTS ON UK WEALTH DIVISION JOB CUTS AMID AI PUSH

HSBC has begun a consultation process that could lead to significant job losses in its UK wealth management division, according to the Financial Times, which first reported the move. The bank is reported to be considering cutting as much as 70 per cent of its financial advisers and halving the number of management and specialist roles in the division. HSBC has not disclosed how many staff currently work in the division or confirmed exact figures for the planned cuts. One person with knowledge of the matter described the changes to the Financial Times as "deep, wide and brutal," with almost entire teams said to face redundancy. Hundreds of relationship managers and advisers across the UK are understood to be affected.

HSBC's UK business holds £134billion in wealth balances, split roughly equally between its private banking and premier banking arms, and the bank employs up to 35,000 people across the UK. The move comes two years after HSBC launched a hiring drive that aimed to add hundreds of relationship managers to a team of around 400, as it targeted doubling assets under management to £100billion by 2030. HSBC's retail banking and wealth arm grew by £9billion to top £62billion by the end of last year, according to the bank's own figures. Chief executive Georges Elhedery, who took over in September 2024, has made artificial intelligence central to his strategy for the bank.

Elhedery told an investor event in May that staff should not be "disenfranchised, anxious, overwhelmed" by the bank's AI ambitions, saying generative AI "will destroy certain jobs and will create new jobs." HSBC is ranked first in the UK and 11th globally on the Evident AI index, a benchmark tracking banks' AI capabilities. The bank announced a partnership with Google Cloud this year aimed at delivering $100million in efficiency gains, including in wealth management. Standard Chartered announced plans earlier this year to cut almost 8,000 back-office roles, a move its chief executive, Bill Winters, described in terms that prompted him to later apologise.