HSBC is preparing substantial redundancies in its UK wealth management unit. According to the Financial Times, the bank plans to remove about 70% of its financial advisers and roughly half of senior and specialist roles, while shifting operations toward artificial-intelligence-based client servicing.
The bank is currently consulting with affected employees, and those impacted are expected to leave by the end of the month, the report says. An insider described the planned reductions as a "deep, wide and brutal" restructuring, adding that entire teams could become redundant.
Scale of the change and context
HSBC has not disclosed the exact number of staff in its UK wealth management arm, but estimates point to several hundred client relationship managers across the business. The move marks a sharp reversal from the bank’s expansionary plans two years ago, when it set a target to double assets under management to £100 billion by the end of the decade. At the end of last year those assets stood at just over £62 billion.
The cuts form part of the strategy of Georges Elhedery, who became chief executive in September 2024 and has prioritized simplification and broad deployment of artificial intelligence. In a strategy paper published over the summer, Elhedery singled out wealth management as an area where AI could have the greatest impact, arguing the technology would enable client relationship managers to serve customers faster and with greater personalization.
Why this matters
The HSBC action feeds into a wider debate about AI’s impact on the labour market: whether the technology mainly raises the productivity of existing workers or allows firms to operate with substantially smaller headcounts. The bank’s plans so far point to the latter scenario.
The ultimate effect on the UK wealth-management sector and on client service will depend on the details of the announcement, the pace of implementation and the real-world capabilities of the AI systems that replace or augment human roles.
An AI assistant contributed to preparing this article; the final text was edited and verified by our reporter.
