US banks charge ahead with American AI in Hong Kong despite geopolitical tensions
US AI companies have restricted access for users in Hong Kong and mainland China, forcing banks to navigate a compliance minefield
Leading American banks are rolling out advanced artificial intelligence tools powered by US technology in their Hong Kong offices, charging ahead with adoption even as escalating geopolitical tensions threaten to shut the Chinese city out from top-tier software.
In a prime example of this push, Citigroup Hong Kong this month began trying out a new in-house AI agent platform called Arc, initially targeting local software developers and engineers, according to a source.
The bank has said that Arc marks a step-change improvement over the firm’s previous in-house AI tools, allowing for greater end-to-end automation of complex tasks such as client prospecting, which typically requires hours of gathering portfolio data, analysing market trends and modelling scenarios.
Senior management had been “aggressively” encouraging AI adoption since last summer, according to a Citigroup employee in Hong Kong who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
“AI agents are the new thing that really makes me feel like everything could change,” the person said. “Previously, I would have to prompt the AI through multiple turns, but now it looks like the AI agents can do this on their own.”
However, this rapid adoption comes at a fraught time. US AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic have both not made their models available to users based in Hong Kong and mainland China, forcing banks to navigate a compliance minefield.