HSBC appoints its first Chief AI Officer: the former COO of the bank

HSBC Holdings plc announced David Rice will be appointed as HSBC’s first Chief AI Officer, effective 1 April. This new role provides clear enterprise leadership for AI adoption within HSBC in support of its ambition to build a bank designed for the future by embedding AI solutions that benefit colleagues and customers.

The appointment comes as part of a wider focus on deploying AI at scale across HSBC by making generative AI tools available to all staff to simplify processes, procedures and policies, and equip customer-facing colleagues with the AI tools they need to deliver more personalised services.

Georges Elhedery, Group CEO, HSBC said: “Our customers increasingly expect their bank to deliver services uniquely aligned to their specific needs, and fast. That’s why we’re building a bank that is designed for the future. AI plays a key role in how we get there.

Our ambition here is simple – we will empower our colleagues to use AI to create a personalised experience for each customer, deliver it safely, in real time and at scale, while keeping human judgement, decision-making and accountability at the core. David will be instrumental in helping us realise our ambition in this area.”

David Rice, HSBC’s new Chief AI Officer, said: “AI is going to play an ever-increasing role in HSBC’s future plans, so I am thrilled to take on this new role to help us drive forward our transformation agenda.”

David Rice was previously the Chief Operating Officer for HSBC’s Corporate and Institutional Banking business.

In addition to David’s appointment, HSBC also announced it was expanding the remit of Mario Shamtani in his role as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to strengthen its technology foundations to deploy AI at scale. This includes modernising core platforms, building a central AI platform colleagues can use to access a range of models, and leading key strategic partnerships.