New Delhi, March 19 (IANS). London-headquartered investment bank HSBC is considering reducing its workforce on a large scale in the coming years. According to a report, HSBC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Georges Elhedary wants to increase the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make the bank’s operations easier and faster.
According to a Bloomberg report, especially those jobs that are not directly related to customers, such as middle and back-office work, may be more affected. However, discussion on this is still going on at the initial level and no final decision has been taken.
The report said that around 20,000 jobs could be affected by this change, which is about 10 percent of the bank’s total global workforce. However, no official comment has been made by the bank on this.
It is reported that discussions on such changes had begun even before the recent increase in tensions in the Middle East.
After becoming CEO in the year 2024, George Elhadry has initiated large-scale changes in the bank, which has already included decisions such as laying off thousands of employees, selling, merging and closing some businesses.
By the end of 2025, HSBC had about 2,10,000 employees. Now the bank is also looking at whether the posts where the employees themselves leave the job should be filled again or not. Apart from this, some jobs may also be lost due to closure or sale of business.
The move reflects a rapidly growing trend in the global banking sector, where artificial intelligence is changing the way it works and the needs of its employees.
The report also says that in the coming three to five years, banks around the world may eliminate about 2 lakh jobs, because many jobs will now be done by machines and AI. Technical leaders believe that the total number of employees may decrease by an average of about 3 percent.
Earlier, another report had said that big tech company Meta Platforms may also do large scale layoffs to control its expenses and invest more on AI infrastructure.
According to the report, Meta may cut its workforce by 20 percent or more, which is equivalent to about 16,000 employees. The company had about 79,000 employees at the end of December.
–IANS
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