HSBC, Google Cloud to roll out 200+ AI use cases

HSBC has agreed a two-year partnership with Google Cloud and Google DeepMind to develop more than 200 artificial intelligence use cases across the bank, the firms announced. HSBC said it expects the work to deliver hundreds of millions of pounds in combined revenue and efficiency improvements.

The bank already operates roughly 600 applications on Google Cloud and will prioritise projects it judges to have the highest value, identifying initiatives with estimated returns above $100 million first. HSBC will tap Google DeepMind engineers and agentic AI capabilities to build customer-facing and back-office solutions.

Initial priorities include using AI to personalise customer interactions with real-time advice, speeding detection and management of financial crime, and expanding an internal AI agent that helps staff prepare for client meetings and reduce administrative work. HSBC expects the AI assistant to cut preparation time for thousands of employees from hours to minutes and to enable risk teams to intervene up to twice as fast when suspicious activity is detected.

HSBC said the partnership will start with customer support and risk use cases and roll out to other business areas after initial deployments. The bank plans to combine in-house development with supplier partnerships and to monitor outcomes closely, maintaining human oversight and accountability in decision-making.

As part of the organisational changes around the programme, HSBC appointed David Rice as its first chief AI officer. Rice joins the role from his position as chief operating officer of HSBC’s corporate and institutional bank after nearly 20 years at the group. HSBC described the new structure as bringing additional technical skills to support delivery.

Industry context provided by HSBC highlights broader uptake of AI across financial services. HSBC cited a banking AI adoption index that places the bank among leading adopters and notes it was the only UK bank in the top 10. A recent industry survey reported 59% of financial institutions had seen productivity gains from AI in the past 12 months, up from 32% a year earlier. Analysts estimate AI could deliver up to 20% in cost savings for banks, while modelling suggests changes in customer behaviour driven by AI advice could reduce industry profits by around 9% over time.

Georges Elhedery, group chief executive at HSBC, commented: “AI is becoming one of the defining technologies of our time, allowing us to create a personalised experience for each customer, delivered in real time and at scale, while keeping human judgement, decision-making and accountability at the core.” Thomas Kurian, chief executive of Google Cloud, described the agreement as a potential blueprint for the financial services industry.