HSBC Affluent & HNW Investors AI (Artificial Intelligence) Survey 2026: Top 3 Areas to Use AI are Finance & Investment, Work & Career and Personal Development, Top Source of Latest Investment Idea is Financial Professionals & Institutions. Top 2 Reasons for Using Professional Advisors for Final Decision are Reassurance & Strategic Expertise
25th June 2026 | Hong Kong
HSBC Affluent & HNW Investors AI (Artificial Intelligence) Survey 2026 – Top 3 areas to use AI are finance & investment, work & career and personal development. The top source of latest investment idea is financial professionals & institutions. The top 2 reasons for using professional advisors for final decision are reassurance & strategic expertise. Survey (24/6/26): “Investors are adopting AI tools to research and generate investment ideas, but they want the judgement of a professional adviser when it is time to act. A new survey of around 10,000 affluent and high-net-worth individuals across 10 markets, commissioned by HSBC from Ipsos, shows AI is now a mainstream investor tool. Respondents ranked finance and investment as the top area where they use AI (73%) – ahead of work and career (62%), and personal development (60%). When asked where their last investment idea came from, 62% cited financial professionals and institutions, compared with 32% who cited AI. That gap widens at the point of commitment, with 37% citing financial professionals and institutions as the most influential factor in their last investment decision – three times more than AI (12%). These insights come as HSBC is accelerating adviser-enabled AI in wealth, including the continued rollout of Wealth Intelligence to multiple markets. The LLM-powered platform draws on more than 10,000 data sources, including HSBC research and external news feeds to help Relationship Managers arrive at client conversations better prepared. Where exploration ends and expertise begins – As investors approach the final decision, they turn to professional advisers for the human inputs that shape outcomes and accountability: 80% cite reassurance and 72% cite strategic expertise. The most valued adviser contributions include applying judgement and validation (32%), spotting mistakes in AI-generated data (29%) and providing a personalised interpretation of complex data (28%). Investors primarily use AI for analysis and research (66%), strategy support (50%), and to provide a second opinion on their ideas (31%). Younger cohorts are leading AI adoption. Gen Z (86%) and Millennials (82%) are the heaviest users of AI for financial and investment decisions, followed by work and career (72% and 71%, respectively) and personal development (65% and 67%). Gen Z mostly use AI to identify potential risks and avoid mistakes (41%), while Millennials most often use it to improve the speed of research and analysis (39%). Gen X primarily use AI to improve the speed and efficiency of research (29%), and Baby Boomers mainly use it to identify potential risks and avoid mistakes (27%). While AI use is high across generations, the data shows it does not remove the need for professional advice within any age group. On average, half (50%) say their ideal future decision-making approach is hybrid, with AI and advisers working together. This includes respondents who use AI to discover options, then seek a human adviser to validate findings before acting; and those who want their adviser to use AI tools to support them. This is more pronounced for younger generations. When asked about their ideal approach, Gen Z and Millennials consistently choose a hybrid model across every financial task. For Gen Z, this includes analysing portfolio performance (56%) and generating new investment ideas (55%); for Millennials, the pattern is similar at 53% and 51%. AI builds confidence – advisers provide conviction – AI is also changing investor attitudes. 51% say it makes them feel more in control, compared with 26% who say it makes them feel less in control. For one in five (20%), AI is lowering the barrier to entry by making investing feel less intimidating. Nearly half (49%) say AI makes them more willing to take calculated risks – more than double the 20% who say it makes them more cautious. That effect is more pronounced in parts of Asia and the Middle East: India (64%), UAE (63%), Malaysia (54%) and Hong Kong (53%) report higher willingness to take calculated risks, while the US (44%), Singapore (43%), Taiwan (43%), and the UK (39%) are more measured in their approach. As well as being the highest adopters, younger investors are the boldest users of AI. Gen Z (59%) and Millennials (58%) are more willing to take calculated risks, compared to Gen X (41%) and Baby Boomers (40%). Yet, Gen Z (30%) and Millennials (26%) also say that AI makes them feel less in control – even among the most confident users. AI-powered confidence is translating into self-reported financial returns. Over the last 12 months, 90% of investors estimate that AI tools have influenced a portion of their portfolio returns, attributing an average third (33%) of returns to AI’s influence – rising to 39% among the wealthiest surveyed (high-net-worth investors with US$2M+ in assets). Among high-net-worth investors, AI use is higher for finance and investment tasks (82%) and 59% say it makes them feel more in control. Less than one in 10 (9%) say AI has not meaningfully changed how they manage their wealth, compared to 26% at the USD 100-250K level. For this group, professional advice remains central to their financial and investment decisions: 70% cite financial professionals and institutions as the leading source of an investment idea.” Methodology – HSBC’s survey findings are based on insights from 9,993 affluent and high-net-worth individual investors aged between 21 and 69 with minimum investable assets of USD100,000 and USD2 million respectively. The research was conducted by Ipsos Asia Limited on behalf of HSBC online from 6 January to 6 February 2026 in mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Taiwan, the UAE, the UK and the US.
“ HSBC Affluent & HNW Investors AI (Artificial Intelligence) Survey 2026: Top 3 Areas to Use AI are Finance & Investment, Work & Career and Personal Development, Top Source of Latest Investment Idea is Financial Professionals & Institutions. Top 2 Reasons for Using Professional Advisors for Final Decision are Reassurance & Strategic Expertise “
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Barry O’Byrne, CEO of International Wealth & Premier Banking at HSBC: “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.”
HSBC Affluent & HNW Investors AI (Artificial Intelligence) Survey 2026: Top 3 Areas to Use AI are Finance & Investment, Work & Career and Personal Development, Top Source of Latest Investment Idea is Financial Professionals & Institutions. Top 2 Reasons for Using Professional Advisors for Final Decision are Reassurance & Strategic Expertise
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