HSBC on Wednesday announced a multi-year collaboration with Google Cloud that will expand the British lender’s application of artificial intelligence across several parts of its business.
The partnership is positioned as a central plank in CEO Georges Elhedery’s push to harness AI for both revenue generation and efficiency improvements, using large-scale data processing and automation to take on work previously performed by people.
According to the bank, the workstreams under the agreement will concentrate on three principal areas: personalised support for wealth management clients; strengthening financial crime risk management; and equipping frontline staff with AI-empowered decision tools designed to cut time spent on administration and meeting preparation.
HSBC said the tie-up should enable about 200 additional tasks to be automated or supported by AI over the next two years. The bank will also gain access to Google’s Gemini model as part of the arrangement, and it said engineering teams from Google Cloud and Google DeepMind will help identify priority projects. Each of those projects could, HSBC said, deliver more than $100 million in revenue gains or efficiency improvements.
The bank already runs some of its estate on Google Cloud: HSBC said it has 600 applications currently operating on the platform.
"A partnership like this one with Google Cloud helps us empower our colleagues with the tools they need to be future-ready, and supports our work in building a simple, agile, faster, and more personal HSBC," CEO Georges Elhedery said.
The announcement follows comments from Elhedery in May in which he urged staff to embrace AI, and warned that the technology will "destroy certain jobs and create new jobs."
HSBC framed the programme as a way to accelerate adoption of AI across the bank at a time when financial institutions are competing to deploy new technology capabilities.
While the agreement highlights specific focus areas and expected deliverables, HSBC described the effort as a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud that will be supported by Google engineering resources to prioritise initiatives and scale AI across the business.