Who is David Rice? HSBC’s first chief AI officer

HSBC on Monday announced David Rice as its first chief artificial intelligence (AI) officer.

Having joined HSBC in 2006, Rice was previously the company's chief operating officer (COO) for its corporate and institutional banking vertical.

In this role, he was responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations across the bank’s corporate and institutional banking franchise while also leading initiatives focussed on emerging technologies and evolving business models.


This comes as the bank aims to streamline costs by incorporating generative AI (GenAI) across its verticals. In recent months, HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery has underscored the importance of AI in driving the bank’s broader strategic ambitions, particularly its goal of increasing return on tangible equity to above 17% for the 2026-2028 period, as the company had reported in its 2025 financial results.

The bank expects automation and process optimisation powered by AI to play a central role in achieving these targets. According to a recent Bloomberg report, the bank may cut as many as 20,000 jobs over the next three to five years, impacting about 10% of its total workforce.

The British bank's move reflects a broader trend across the global financial services industry, where dedicated AI leadership roles intend to drive digital transformation.

Swiss lender UBS had appointed Daniele Magazzeni to oversee its AI initiatives, and Macquarie Bank named Ashwin Sinha to an expanded role combining data, digital, and AI leadership in October last year.

The US bank named Pashant Miratra to a similar role in January 2025. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank also appointed Shameek Kundu as chief AI officer in September last year, highlighting the growing global momentum behind AI-led transformation in banking. BNP Paribas also appointed Charles Holive as chief AI officer for its corporate and institutional banking division earlier this year.

As competition intensifies, the creation of dedicated AI leadership roles is fast becoming a defining feature of the financial services industry’s next phase of digital transformation.