HSBC Survey: Investors Use AI, but Human Advisers Take the Final Call

HSBC’s “AI and Human Advantage” survey of 9,993 affluent and high-net-worth individuals across 10 markets shows investors leaning on AI for the early steps of their investment work and on a human adviser for the last one. The 73% who use AI for finance and investment rank it as their most-used AI domain, ahead of work and personal development. The share who name AI as the most influential factor in their last investment decision is just 12%, while 37% cite financial professionals and institutions.

That gap widens at the moment of commitment. Globally, 62% of investors cite financial professionals and institutions as the main source of their investment ideas, against 32% who cite AI. In the United States, 59% of investors name professionals and institutions as the source of their last idea versus 19% for AI, and only 7% say AI drove the last major decision. The pattern shows up the same way across generations, regions, and asset tiers in the survey: AI handles the research, humans handle the call. The data lands in the middle of an industry already reshuffling around the same question.

The Numbers at the Point of Commitment

The ‘AI and Human Advantage’ survey findings, published on 24 June 2026 and run online by Ipsos Asia Limited between 6 January and 6 February 2026, capture the moment investors actually commit money. The respondents were aged 21 to 69 with at least $100,000 in investable assets, drawn from mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Taiwan, the UAE, the UK, and the US. The US sample alone was 1,128 respondents, with parallel work in nine other markets.

AI handles the research, and humans handle the call, and the gap between the two grows as the stakes rise. The headline figures from HSBC’s global release show 73% using AI for finance and investment, 62% citing human professionals as the main source of their last idea, and 37% naming human professionals as the most influential factor in their last decision against 12% for AI. Half of all respondents (50%) say their ideal future decision-making approach is hybrid, with AI and advisers working together. The data behind those numbers is consistent across regions, asset tiers, and age groups.

The split shows up most clearly at the moment of commitment, when AI use hasn’t yet converted into decision influence. Five numbers from HSBC’s global release capture the gap:

• 73% use AI for finance and investment tasks, the top AI domain
• 62% cite human financial professionals as the main source of their last investment idea
• 37% cite human professionals as the most influential factor in their last investment decision
• 12% cite AI as the most influential factor in their last investment decision
• 50% say their ideal future decision-making approach is hybrid

What AI Is For

AI is doing the first 80% of the work in most investors’ workflows, but the last 20%, the call itself, still goes to a person. The most common AI use cases are tightly defined, and none of them is “make the call.” Globally, 66% of investors use AI for analysis and research, 50% use it for strategy support, and 31% use it as a second opinion on their ideas. The pattern is consistent enough that the survey treats it as a baseline, not a finding. Less than one in 10 HNW investors (9%) say AI hasn’t meaningfully changed how they manage their wealth, against 26% at the $100,000 to $250,000 level.

That pattern changes shape by generation but keeps the same structure. For Gen Z, 41% use AI to identify potential risks and avoid mistakes, and for millennials, 39% use it to improve the speed of research and analysis. Gen X (29%) and baby boomers (27%) use AI for similar upstream work, mostly speed, efficiency, and risk identification.

Where the generations differ most is in the secondary use, not the primary one. Younger investors use AI for a wider range of tasks, but every cohort still treats the model as an input rather than an output. The US data shows the same pattern at a different scale: 63% of US Gen Z and millennials say they benefit from confidence and decision support from AI, against 31% of Gen X and baby boomers. Younger investors lean on AI more, but they don’t let it pick the trade.

The list of AI tools investors actually use is the same list everyone else is using. Anthropic’s Claude, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Alphabet’s Gemini all offer portfolio modelling, tax optimisation, and idea generation, per the Business Times. The behaviour, not the brand, is what the data is measuring.

Where investors use AI globally:

• 66% for analysis and research
• 50% for strategy support
• 31% for a second opinion on their ideas

What Human Advisers Still Hold

The human side of the equation is not a vague trust claim. HSBC asked investors what they specifically value in an adviser as the stakes rise, and the top answers are concrete. Globally, 80% cite reassurance, 72% cite strategic expertise, 32% value advisers for applying judgement and validation, 29% for spotting mistakes in AI-generated data, and 28% for providing personalised interpretation of complex data. In the US, 77% cite reassurance and 68% cite strategic expertise. The most valued human contribution in both markets is applying judgement and validation.

Clients are increasingly using AI to explore their options, but when it comes to making investment decisions, they value judgement, context, and accountability from a trusted wealth adviser. That’s why we’re investing in adviser-enabled AI tools so our Relationship Managers can have richer client conversations.

Barry O’Byrne, CEO of International Wealth and Premier Banking at HSBC, said the same in the bank’s release. And the most valued human contribution is also the hardest to automate. The second most valued, spotting mistakes in AI-generated data, is a function the AI itself isn’t going to do well, since the same model can’t be the best auditor of its own output. The third, personalised interpretation, is the work of turning a generic recommendation into advice a specific client can live with.

Gen Z and the Hybrid Bet

Among Gen Z and millennials, the hybrid is the default. 86% of Gen Z and 82% of millennials use AI for financial and investment decisions, the highest of any age group in the survey. Half of all respondents (50%) say their ideal decision-making approach is hybrid, with AI and advisers working together.

For Gen Z, that hybrid preference shows up in 56% who want AI plus a human for analysing portfolio performance and 55% who want the same for generating new investment ideas. Millennials show the same pattern at 53% and 51%. In the US, the same shape shows up at 42% and 37% for Gen Z, and 30% and 33% for millennials. US Gen Z and millennials prefer the hybrid model across every financial task at 50% and 44%, per the US release.

The data also complicates the simpler reading that AI makes younger investors feel more in control. Globally, 51% of investors say AI makes them feel more in control and 26% say less. Among the most enthusiastic Gen Z users, 30% say AI makes them feel less in control, and 26% of millennials say the same. The 20% of investors who say AI is lowering the barrier to entry by making investing feel less intimidating is a separate effect. So is the 49% who say AI makes them more willing to take calculated risks, against 20% who say it makes them more cautious.

That risk-taking split is also generational. 59% of Gen Z and 58% of millennials say AI makes them more willing to take calculated risks, against 41% of Gen X and 40% of baby boomers.

The Geography of Trust

India leads the world on AI use, with 86% of affluent and high-net-worth investors using AI for finance and investment, against the 73% global average. Inside India, 67% of investors cite financial professionals and institutions as their main source of investment ideas, and only 15% cite AI as the most influential factor in their last decision. The HSBC survey treats each market as a single block, and the regional differences show up in the risk-tolerance data as well.

The risk-tolerance split is sharper than the use split. India (64%), the UAE (63%), Malaysia (54%), and Hong Kong (53%) lead on willingness to take calculated risks based on AI. The US (44%), Singapore (43%), Taiwan (43%), and the UK (39%) are more measured. The US is closer to the global average on risk-tolerance (44% versus 49% globally) but reports a sharper sense of losing control: 31% of US investors say AI makes them feel less in control, against the 26% global average. US high-net-worth investors, those with $2 million or more in assets, still cite financial professionals and institutions as the leading source of an investment idea at 67%, against 16% for AI. Among the wealthiest surveyed globally, 70% cite human professionals as the leading source of an investment idea, the highest in the survey, alongside the 82% who use AI for finance and investment, also the highest. Racquel Oden, head of international wealth management and private banking at HSBC’s US business, put the US numbers in a US-specific frame in the US-specific 2026 investor findings.

Share of investors who say AI makes them more willing to take calculated risks, by market:

• India 64%
• UAE 63%
• Malaysia 54%
• Hong Kong 53%
• US 44%
• Singapore 43%
• Taiwan 43%
• UK 39%

What the Industry Is Doing About It

Across the industry, the response so far divides into two camps. HSBC says it is accelerating what it calls adviser-enabled AI in wealth, including the continued rollout of its LLM-powered Wealth Intelligence platform to multiple markets. The platform draws on more than 10,000 data sources, including HSBC research and external news feeds, to help relationship managers prepare for client meetings. The bank is rolling out the same hybrid the survey describes.

Other firms are drawing different lines on the same map. McKinsey recently suggested that AI will likely replace human advisers for clients with $1 million or less in liquid assets, per the Business Times. Citigroup, by contrast, is hiring hundreds of wealth advisers in response to the growth potential AI represents.

The two responses aren’t contradictory. They target different client tiers with different cost structures, and HSBC’s survey suggests both bets are reading the data correctly. McKinsey’s Debasish Patnaik, a senior partner, has argued that AI’s arrival will create an entirely new job class within wealth management, including behavioural data scientists, personalisation architects, and “human-in-the-loop” oversight professionals who monitor AI output, per Moneycontrol. The new roles look a lot like the existing adviser role, but with a different job description.

HSBC is rolling out Wealth Intelligence, Citi is adding advisers, and McKinsey is sketching the new jobs. 90% of investors globally say AI influenced a portion of their returns over the past year, and 50% name the hybrid as their preferred approach. HNW investors globally attribute 39% of returns to AI on average, the highest share in the survey.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did HSBC’s 2026 survey find about AI in wealth management?

HSBC’s “AI and Human Advantage” survey of 9,993 affluent and high-net-worth individuals across 10 markets found 73% use AI for finance and investment, the top AI domain in the survey. Just 12% globally, and 7% in the US, name AI as the most influential factor in their last investment decision, against 37% who cite human financial professionals and institutions.

How many investors use AI for financial decisions in 2026?

73% of investors globally use AI for finance and investment tasks, ahead of work and career (62%) and personal development (60%). In the US, that share is 57%, and among high-net-worth investors globally (those with $2 million or more in assets), it rises to 82%.

What share of investors let AI make the final investment call?

12% globally and 7% in the US cite AI as the most influential factor in their last investment decision. 37% globally cite human financial professionals and institutions as the most influential factor, and 62% globally name professionals and institutions as the main source of their last investment idea, against 32% for AI.

Which countries have the highest AI use in investing?

India leads, with 86% of affluent and high-net-worth investors using AI for finance and investment, against the 73% global average. India also reports the highest willingness to take calculated risks based on AI at 64%, followed by the UAE (63%), Malaysia (54%), and Hong Kong (53%), with the US (44%), Singapore (43%), Taiwan (43%), and the UK (39%) more measured.

What is HSBC’s Wealth Intelligence platform?

Wealth Intelligence is HSBC’s LLM-powered adviser tool that draws on more than 10,000 data sources, including HSBC research and external news feeds, to brief relationship managers ahead of client meetings. HSBC is rolling it out to multiple markets as part of what it calls adviser-enabled AI in wealth.

Will AI replace human financial advisers?

HSBC’s data says the final call still goes to a human for affluent and high-net-worth investors. McKinsey’s view, reported by the Business Times, is that AI will likely replace human advisers for clients with $1 million or less in liquid assets. Half of all investors globally (50%) say their ideal decision-making approach is hybrid, with AI and advisers working together.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Survey figures are accurate as of HSBC’s “AI and Human Advantage” 2026 publication. Consult a qualified financial professional before making investment decisions.