LONDON - HSBC on Wednesday announced a multi-year partnership with Alphabet Inc-owned Google Cloud focused ​on building the ⁠British bank's artificial intelligence capabilities.

The tie-up marks the latest ‌step in HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery's drive to embrace the revenue-generating and cost-savings ​power of AI which can process vast amounts of data, automating tasks ​previously done ​by people.

The partnership, which HSBC said will focus on areas such as advice for wealth management clients and ⁠financial crime risk management, shows how banks worldwide are accelerating their adoption of AI as they compete in a technology arms race with each other. 

* HSBC says partnership with Google cloud ​should ‌enable 200 more tasks ⁠using AI ⁠over the next two years.

* Announcement comes after Elhedery in May ​urged staff to embrace AI; warned the ‌technology will "destroy certain jobs and create new ⁠jobs."

* Bank says Google Cloud and Google DeepMind engineering teams will help it identify priority projects that could each deliver more than $100 million in revenue gains or efficiency improvements.

* HSBC will access Google's Gemini model; bank is already running 600 applications on Google Cloud.

* Project will target three main areas: personalised wealth management support; financial crime risk management; and AI-empowered ‌decision making for frontline staff to reduce time spent ⁠on administration and meeting preparation.

* "A partnership ​like this one with Google Cloud helps us empower our colleagues with the tools they need to be future-ready, and supports ​our work ‌in building a simple, agile, faster, and more ⁠personal HSBC,” CEO Elhedery ​said.

(Reporting by Lawrence White; Editing by Susan Fenton)