HSBC Holdings PLC is set to hire more than 100 artificial intelligence (AI) specialists in Singapore, with plans to launch a global AI center in the city-state later this year as the British lender steps up investments in the technology that is reshaping Wall Street workforces.The Singapore center would initially focus on introducing agentic treasury solutions and developing AI-enabled digital payments, the bank said in a statement yesterday. The specialists would work alongside HSBC chief AI officer David Rice and teams responsible for areas such as wealth management and global payment solutions, it said.
HSBC Holdings PLC’s logo atop a tram station outside the bank’s headquarters in Hong Kong is pictured on Friday.
The center aims to build a “pipeline of talent” across natural language processing, data science and AI governance, and would work with educational institutions and government bodies in Singapore, HSBC said.HSBC’s deeper push into AI follows months after Bloomberg News reported that the firm is weighing extensive job cuts over the coming years as CEO Georges Elhedery bets on the technology to shrink its middle and back offices.
The changes could ultimately impact about 20,000 roles, or 10 percent of its total headcount, a person familiar with the deliberations said in March.In May, Elhedery warned that AI would “destroy” certain roles while creating others, urging employees to adapt rather than resist the technological shift. Still, he has emphasized that humans would remain central to banks for their judgement, decisionmaking and accountability.Businesses, from financial services company Block Inc to cloud company Oracle Corp, have been citing AI as a reason for job cuts over the past few months. Last week, Uber Technologies Inc said it has cut 10 percent of jobs within its customer service operations as part of a broader effort to simplify its ranks and embrace AI.
