HSBC has entered into a multi-year agreement with Google Cloud to develop and introduce AI tools across its worldwide business.
The arrangement is intended to speed up the use of AI-based working methods in its banking operations.
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Under the agreement, HSBC will work with Google Cloud and Google DeepMind engineers on tools and programmes using Google’s agentic AI technology, including Gemini models and the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform.
The work is expected to lead to more than 200 AI use cases over the next two years.
The project is also meant to streamline processes and help it identify and rank the initiatives it sees as most valuable for funding and implementation.
HSBC estimates that each of those projects could generate more than $100m through direct income growth or broader efficiency gains.
The agreement adds to HSBC’s existing use of Google Cloud, where more than 600 of its applications are already hosted.
Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said: “Our partnership with HSBC is a blueprint for the future of the financial services industry. By accelerating AI adoption built with Gemini, our Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, forward-deployed engineers, and Google DeepMind’s research expertise, HSBC is building a more intelligent, resilient, and responsive bank that can create meaningful value for its customers.”
In wealth management, HSBC plans to pair AI-based insights with the work of relationship managers.
HSBC plans to use generative AI and agentic AI in a financial crime system aimed at spotting risk earlier.
It also plans to place regulatory procedures into an AI framework intended to provide bankers with structured options and analysis for decision-making, while leaving human judgement central to the process.
HSBC Group CEO Georges Elhedery said: “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.”
In March, Bloomberg reported that HSBC was considering significant job cuts in the years ahead, with Elhedery looking to use AI to reduce headcount in the middle and back office.
Those changes could eventually affect about 20,000 roles, or roughly 10% of the bank’s total workforce, a person familiar with the considerations said in March.
