HSBC CEO says AI will destroy and create new jobs, urges staff to embrace change

[HONG KONG] HSBC chief executive Georges Elhedery said on Wednesday (May 20) AI would destroy and create certain jobs in the financial industry, and the bank was focussed on retraining its workforce.

Elhedery told an HSBC investor day event that staff needed to embrace AI-driven change rather than resist it and work with the bank on navigating the new technology. “We all know generative AI will destroy certain jobs and will create new jobs,” Elhedery said.

“But my initial mission is I need 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.”

Elhedery said HSBC staff needed to ensure they were “not fighting us, not disenfranchised, not anxious, overwhelmed, and resisting the change”.

Standard Chartered said on Tuesday it would eliminate more than 7,000 jobs over the next four years as it seeks to replace “lower-value human ​capital” with technology.

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The London-headquartered lender cited AI ‌as a driver to slim down its operations to increase profitability and tackle competition. REUTERS