There are signs that global banks will further ramp up artificial intelligence (AI) adoption with the aim of reducing costs and headcount. Will this have a significant impact on private banking divisions?
There has been a unison of voices among the global banking leaders on the topic of AI adoption and plans to shrink workforces.
Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters led the pack with an announcement on Tuesday to cut more than 7,000 jobs in a move to replace “lower-value human capital” – a term which has since seen backlash. HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery followed up with comments not to fight the trend, adding that “generative AI will destroy certain jobs and will create new jobs”. DBS chief Tan Su Shan echoed the sentiments in a Business Times interview, citing the example of the bank having fewer product engineers.
Limited client-facing effect
Private banks are already seeing transformations from adoption of the emerging technology with HSBC Private Bank, for example, launching Wealth Intelligence – a generative AI ecosystem by OpenAI’s large language model for its client-facing staff to provide market insights and personalized investment strategies – in late 2025.
Still, most anticipate that the changes will only focus on operational functions and improving the productivity of relationship managers rather than replacing them.
According to an EY survey of European private banks and wealth management firms, 68 percent expect substantial AI-related improvements in employee experience with use cases across automation of administrative duties, predictive analytics and real-time personalized financial market insights. In contrast, just 14 percent see meaningful enhancements in customer experience with concerns about risks in client-facing roles across privacy and compliance.
