Khaberni - On Monday, HSBC, the British bank, announced that it appointed David Rice as its first head of artificial intelligence at the bank, in an effort to reduce costs and improve performance through the development of its technology usage across all its business worldwide.
George El Haidari, the CEO of HSBC, highlighted artificial intelligence as key to achieving the bank’s broader strategic goal of increasing tangible equity returns to over 17% for the period from 2026 to 2028 through savings generated from automation and streamlining processes.
Previously, Rice served as the Executive Director of Operations in the bank's Corporate and Institutional Banking division, according to "Reuters".
Banks around the world are trying to leverage artificial intelligence to improve tasks such as programming, fraud detection, and credit applications.
During a teleconference on February 25, El Haidari told investors, "If you ask me where the biggest investment in new technology is heading today, it is definitely towards artificial intelligence."
Having an official head of artificial intelligence is relatively unusual for major global banks, and many competing banks incorporate artificial intelligence responsibilities within broader managerial scopes of a technology division head.
The bank has not disclosed the number of jobs that may be eliminated as a result of the improvements made by artificial intelligence. Bloomberg reported this month that the bank may eventually cut 20,000 jobs, indicating that plans are still in the early stages and no decisions have yet been made.
