TL;DR

HSBC is planning large job cuts in its UK wealth management arm as part of a wider drive to build AI into the business, according to a Financial Times report on Wednesday 7 October that Reuters followed up. Sources quoted by the FT said roughly half of the unit’s managers and specialists would go, and that the number of financial advisers could shrink by about 70%.

What is planned

Staff are being consulted on the proposals, and the FT said those whose roles go should depart before the month is out. HSBC keeps its UK wealth headcount private. Its UK relationship managers are thought to number in the hundreds, according to the FT.

Responding to Reuters, HSBC did not address the numbers. It described itself as a long-established UK wealth manager and said it was continuing to evolve, delivering “more digitally enabled products and journeys” to meet customers’ changing needs.

The plan fits a message chief executive Georges Elhedery has given before. Speaking at the bank’s investor day in May, he urged employees to accept change driven by AI instead of fighting it, and warned that “generative AI will destroy certain jobs”. Elhedery, who took charge in 2024, has made AI central to his strategy.

A different picture from the index

The report came a day after Evident published its annual AI Index of 50 large banks, in which HSBC slipped from eighth to 11th. Euronews, covering the index, said Evident found the top-ranked banks were still hiring AI talent and favouring growth over job cuts. It set that against Standard Chartered’s plan, announced in May, to shed around 7,800 back-office posts by 2030 through AI and automation.

In our view, the two stories are not in direct conflict. Evident’s index gives most weight to AI talent, while HSBC’s reported cuts fall on advisers, managers and specialists in its wealth arm. A bank can be adding AI engineers and removing advisers at the same time.

Looking forward

The detail that matters most for UK customers is not in the reporting so far: neither the FT account nor HSBC’s statement says how it will serve wealth clients with far fewer advisers. If the cuts proceed at the scale reported, the bank will need to show that digital tools can carry advice work that human advisers have done until now, and customers will judge whether the service holds up.