HSBC reportedly discussing using CausaLens AI Agents in Corporate Banking division

I came across this fascinating story in Financial News that indicates HSBC has had some discussions with British AI Agent firm, CausaLens, with a view to using AI agents to automate some back office tasks.

I would imagine that this, if accurate, is somewhat of an unauthorised leak as this isn't the way most banks like to play things, especially – and I do mean, especially – in the context of the Financial News headline:

HSBC eyes AI bots to replace back office jobs

Of course, a lot of executive attention is going into how they can reduce headcount with these 'amazing AI agents' for obvious reasons – so many industries, not just financial services are under a lot of cost pressure.

There are lots of use cases in a bank like HSBC, whereby AI can certainly drive some amazing efficiencies. However, it's mostly never where executives think it is. There's often a considerable gap between the executive's understanding of what AI can do and what the vendor is claiming.

The Financial News article quotes the CausaLens website thus:

Its website says the technology can automate up to 90% of tasks at 10% of the cost.

Well, yes. Obviously. 10% of the cost? It should be way cheaper, ideally. Way cheaper.

But it very much depends on what task it's automating.

I've seen huge efficiencies, HUGE, achieved with AI... but at the same time, I've also seen situations where the tech either didn't work or ended up saving a tiny percentage.

Good luck to both parties.

And if you're representing a vendor also specialising in offering AI Agents, you might want to get on the phone to your HSBC connections and see if there's an opportunity to talk.