HSBC Holdings, the UK's largest bank by assets, is contemplating slashing up to 20,000 jobs—roughly 10% of its 210,000-strong global workforce—as Chief Executive Georges Elhedery accelerates an AI-fueled overhaul of its operations. The proposed cuts, targeting non-client-facing roles in middle- and back-office functions, reflect Elhedery's bet on artificial intelligence to cut roles in middle and back offices.
Bloomberg News first reported the plans on March 18, 2026, citing people familiar with the discussions. Non-client-facing roles in global service centres are among those most vulnerable. Front-line staff interacting directly with clients appear safer for now.
CEO'S AI BET
Elhedery, who assumed the CEO role in 2024, has been restructuring the bank to cut costs, sell non-core assets and focus on its core business in Asia, with the bank already on track to hit its $1.5 billion annualised cost-savings target by the end of the first half of the year, six months ahead of schedule.
HSBC's chief financial officer, Pam Kaur, reinforced this tech-first approach during a Morgan Stanley conference on March 18. She said the bank saw opportunities to use AI both to cut costs and increase employee productivity, highlighting deployments in customer service, know-your-customer teams, and transaction monitoring.
The bank is also retiring legacy software. HSBC has already decommissioned more than 1,100 of its 3,000 non-essential applications, with plans to eliminate another 1,900 by 2028 from a total of 9,000. Elhedery has described the effort as a "fundamental reengineering" of the bank's processes end to end, to allow AI to be integrated into its operations.
MULTIYEAR ROLL-OUT, NO FINAL CALL
While the scale is ambitious, execution would unfold gradually over three to five years, minimizing immediate disruption. Deliberations are at an early stage, no final decision has been made, and an HSBC spokesperson declined to comment. Some of the reduction could come from business sales or exits, and from not replacing departing staff.
The workforce stood at approximately 210,000 at the end of 2025.
BANKING'S AI JOB TSUNAMI
HSBC's deliberations mirror a sector-wide reckoning. Bloomberg Intelligence estimated in January 2025 that global banks could shed up to 200,000 jobs over three to five years as AI proliferates, automating data-heavy tasks that once required human oversight.
Bank news that matters, every weekday.
Follow The Global Banker on LinkedIn