HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery has urged employees to embrace artificial intelligence rather than resist it, warning that generative AI will both eliminate some jobs and create new ones across the financial industry. Speaking at the bank’s investor day, he framed AI as a structural change that staff must learn to work with, not a temporary technology trend.

For HSBC, the issue is already part of a wider operating shift. The bank has around 200,000 employees and is using AI across customer onboarding, financial monitoring, contact centers and wealth management. Management is positioning retraining as a key part of the transition, aiming to prepare employees for new tools and workflows before automation reshapes existing roles.

In March, HSBC appointed David Rice as its first Chief AI Officer. The bank said the role will help build a centralized AI platform and support safer adoption of the technology, while keeping human judgment, decision-making and accountability at the core of customer-facing processes.

Elhedery’s comments come as other major banks move more aggressively. Standard Chartered plans to cut more than 7,000 corporate roles by 2030 as it expands AI use and streamlines operations. For the banking sector, the message is becoming clearer: AI is no longer just a productivity experiment, but a force that is starting to reshape cost structures, job profiles and competition.