HSBC plans to open an AI and emerging technology institute in Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2027, following its July plan to hire more than 100 specialists for a Singapore AI centre. Chief Executive Georges Elhedery announced the Hong Kong plan at the city’s Fintech Week event on 2 November, CNA reported.
Key points
- HSBC aims to open the Hong Kong institute in the first quarter of 2027, with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as its anchor academic partner.
- The bank’s Singapore centre has a hiring plan for more than 100 AI specialists.
- HSBC is rolling out AI training across its global workforce of roughly 200,000 people.
- Reports differ on a Hong Kong hiring target and whether the university partnership has been announced.
HKUST named as Hong Kong partner
Elhedery named Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, or HKUST, as the institute’s anchor academic partner. That gives the proposed Hong Kong operation a university counterpart alongside its research remit. Elhedery also tied a later move to Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis development to the bank’s site there being ready.
The accounts of the institute’s staffing differ. Elhedery did not give a headcount for the Hong Kong unit, Reuters reported. OneBullEx reported a target of 150 AI specialists and a hiring build-up lasting two to three years.
The accounts also differ on the university relationship. Elhedery identified HKUST as the anchor academic partner, according to CNA. OneBullEx wrote that HSBC had not announced a university partnership, saying the bank “has not announced any such arrangement”.
OneBullEx reported that blockchain was on the institute’s initial research agenda. Its account described the proposed hiring as a phased build-up rather than a single recruitment round. The Hong Kong opening date reported by Elhedery is a launch target for the institute, while the longer period in the OneBullEx account concerns assembling its team.
Singapore hiring exceeds 100 specialists
HSBC announced in July that its Singapore AI centre would hire more than 100 specialists. The Hong Kong institute extends that regional research effort, with its planned opening falling in the first quarter of 2027. The Singapore figure is a hiring plan for that centre, rather than a headcount for the Hong Kong institute.
Elhedery said HSBC was rolling out AI training to its entire global workforce of roughly 200,000 people. The programme reaches well beyond the specialist teams planned for the two centres. In Hong Kong, where HSBC employs 28,000 people, the bank is one of the largest private-sector employers.
“AI is going to be disruptive. It’s going to transform jobs,” Elhedery told the Fintech Week event. The training rollout and the institute sit alongside HSBC’s existing workforce in Hong Kong, while the Singapore announcement concerns recruitment to a dedicated AI centre.
Hong Kong banks expand AI adoption
About 80 per cent of banks in Hong Kong are already adopting AI or generative AI, Eddie Yue, chief executive of the city’s de facto central bank, told the same event. His figure covers banks across Hong Kong, rather than employees or deployments within HSBC.
Yue also outlined Project SAGE, a regulatory initiative intended to support the use of AI agents in finance while managing associated risks. He described plans for a cross-sector expert panel to test applications and whether different agents can work together, CNA reported.
Yue identified governance, accountability, a central register of trusted agents and a possible “know your agent” standard as subjects on which the regulator would seek views. He also said the authority would expand trials of tokenised Exchange Fund Bills and examine whether regulated stablecoins could be used for payments.
