HSBC's chief executive Georges Elhedery said on Wednesday that the lender is calling on its staff to embrace artificial intelligence-driven changes as it aims to retrain its workforce to navigate the advanced technology and expand services.

The remarks came a day after rival Standard Chartered announced it will slash thousands of jobs in the coming years as it increases the adoption of AI.

At HSBC's investor day event, Elhedery said generative AI will destroy and create jobs in the financial industry, but will also serve as an "accelerator" for the group to reach its ambitious business goals.

He added that the bank has already appointed a chief AI officer to redesign workflows, calling on employees to upskill themselves rather than resisting change.

"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," he told investors.

"Importantly, how can they be on the journey with us, not fighting us, not disenfranchised, not anxious, overwhelmed, and resisting the change.

"Everyone will be given training capabilities, productivity tools, specialised tools, coding assistance, so that they can become a better, more productive, higher performing version of themselves," he added.

Appointed in March as the group's first chief AI officer, David Rice is also tasked with using AI to deliver the lender's wider strategic goals of increasing returns through savings from automating and streamlining processes.

Eldehery noted the bank is deploying AI across multiple functions and business segments and creating more personalised banking services for its customers.

"Imagine we're on-boarding in real time, credit card application approval in real time, wholesale revolving credit facility approval in real time, capital allocation in real time. That's the moonshot," he said.

"And this is where it's not anymore about productivity or cost gains. It's going to be about acquisition of more customers and more revenue."

On Tuesday, Standard Chartered chief executive Bill Winters said at an investor day event that the bank will cut 15 percent, or around 7,800, of its back-office roles by 2030, becoming the first among global lenders to explicitly reveal the impact of AI on labour.

Winters said the jobs affected are mostly non-client facing.

Separately, Elhedery said the group will be able to achieve its goal of saving US$1.5 billion by June this year, six months ahead of the original plan. (Additional reporting by Reuters)



Edited by Thomas McAlinden