HSBC is looking to eliminate various UK wealth management roles, including advisors and technical specialists, in AI push, according to sources cited by the Financial Times.
Roughly 50% of leadership and specialised posts are projected to be eliminated, while financial adviser numbers could fall by nearly 70%, said one of the sources.
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Characterising the retrenchment as “deep, wide and brutal”, an insider noted that practically entire groups would be dismissed.
Although the lender does not disclose specific staff totals for this division, hundreds of client relationship managers are understood to work across the country.
The organisation has entered a “consultation period” regarding the proposed restructuring, with departures anticipated by the end of the current month.
The dismissals indicate a shift from the bank’s approach two years earlier, when it recruited aggressively to expand its UK private banking and wealth footprint.
That initiative targeted £100bn ($132bn) in managed assets by 2030, compared with over £62bn recorded at the close of last year.
The changes follow the exit of José Carvalho, who led UK wealth and personal banking.
Group chief executive Georges Elhedery has focused on AI to streamline operations since assuming control in September 2024.
He has also committed to lowering overall headcount by removing managerial tiers and shedding redundant senior positions.
