HSBC is planning sweeping job cuts in its UK wealth management business, drastically reducing its ranks of financial advisers and other specialists as part of a push to use AI to help serve wealthy clients. The bank will cut roles across its UK wealth business, according to people familiar with the plans. About half of the business’s management and specialist roles are expected to go, while the reduction in the ranks of financial advisers will be closer to 70 per cent, one of the people said. One person described the cuts as “deep, wide and brutal”, adding that almost entire teams would be made redundant. HSBC does not break down how many people it employs in its UK wealth business but it is thought to have hundreds of relationship managers based across the country.
The bank is in a “consultation period” regarding the proposed changes, according to one person familiar with the bank’s plans. Impacted staff are expected to leave the bank at the end of the month. “HSBC UK is a long-established, leading UK wealth manager and premium banking provider,” the bank said. “We’re continuing to evolve to deliver more digitally enabled products and journeys to support our best-in-class wealth service and meet the changing needs of our customers.”
The redundancies come amid a debate about whether the widespread adoption of AI will help boost the productivity of existing employees or allow companies to operate with significantly smaller workforces. They also appear to mark a reversal from two years ago when HSBC embarked on a hiring spree to grow the UK’s wealth and private banking operations with an ambitious target of doubling assets under management to £100bn by the end of the decade. It had just over £62bn in assets at the end of last year.
The move follows the departure of José Carvalho, HSBC’s head of wealth and personal banking in the UK, who announced he would step down from the role in a Linked In post last month after three years. Georges Elhedery, HSBC chief executive, has made AI a central part of his strategy to simplify the bank since taking the reins in September 2024. He also pledged to reduce the bank’s headcount by stripping out layers of management and eliminating duplicate senior roles.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing