Mark Von Holden/AP Images for HSBC
HSBC employees welcome Pepper to their branch on Monday, June 25, 2018
On Tuesday, HSBC unveiled its newest branch banker. This time, it's not another human with ambitions to be the next Jamie Dimon, but Pepper, a robot built by SoftBank Robotics to imitate human characteristics. The investment is intended to bring foot traffic and new business to the firm's flagship New York location on Fifth Avenue, and improve the branch experience for customers.
The brainchild of HSBC's US retail banking and wealth management chief, Pablo Sanchez, and his head of innovation, Jeremy Balkin, Pepper is the first robot to be used in a US bank branch.