HSBC to open Hong Kong AI institute following Singapore launch

[HONG KONG] HSBC is setting up an artificial intelligence and emerging technology institute in Hong Kong, as the city’s largest bank steps up its AI push following a similar launch in Singapore earlier this year.

The bank aims to launch the institute in the first quarter of 2027, CEO Georges Elhedery said at Hong Kong’s Fintech Week event on Monday (Nov 2).

The AI unit will work with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as its anchor academic partner, Elhedery said, though he did not disclose headcount details.

He added the bank would move the centre to Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis – a mega project ​bordering mainland China – as soon as its site there was ready.

The Hong Kong plan follows the Asia-focused lender’s announcement in July that it would hire more than 100 specialists at an AI centre in rival financial hub Singapore.

The investment in AI transformation comes as banks globally cut staff due to AI-driven overhauls, with lenders such as Citi, Standard Chartered and Barclays unveiling plans this year to cut thousands of jobs.

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Around 80 per cent of all banks in Hong Kong are already adopting AI or generative AI, Eddie Yue, chief executive of Hong Kong’s de facto central bank, told the conference.

HSBC’s Elhedery added that HSBC – one of Hong Kong’s largest private-sector employers with 28,000 local staff – was rolling out AI training for its entire global workforce of roughly 200,000 people. “AI is going to be disruptive. It’s going to transform jobs,” Elhedery added.

Separately, Yue told reporters on the sidelines of the event that the regulator would launch Project SAGE to support the use of AI agents in finance while setting guardrails to manage risks.

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The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) will create a cross-sector expert panel to test AI agent applications and interoperability, Yue said.

He added that the HKMA would also seek views on governance, accountability, a central register of trusted agents and a possible “know your agent” standard.

“Innovation and risk management must go hand in hand,” Yue noted. The HKMA will expand trials of tokenised Exchange Fund Bills and examine whether regulated stablecoins can serve as a payment method, he pointed out. REUTERS