Hong Kong SAR of China’s restructuring specialists are navigating one of the busiest periods in over a decade while deliberating on how AI might impact their workflows.
According to PwC data, corporate insolvencies in Hong Kong SAR climbed to 589 cases in the 11 months to November 2025: a 45% increase from 2024 and the highest level since 2009. PwC points to financial strain across various sectors beyond real estate, with the insolvency landscape influenced by weaker trade flows, higher borrowing costs, and a sluggish consumer recovery.
AI has moved from pilot to production across much of the profession
Talent pressure
With the outlook expected to remain steady as cases pass through the courts, the increased workload is leading firms to invest in their talent pools. EY, for example, is expected to expand its restructuring team from 80 to 130 in 2026, noting that more companies are turning to preventive restructuring as they navigate geopolitical tensions and tariff uncertainty.
Against this backdrop, AI has moved from pilot to production across much of the profession. Senior leaders at PwC, EY, BDO and RSM all see it as part of restructuring’s future, but they draw the line in different places.
‘AI has changed restructuring consulting mainly by improving efficiency’
At the more ambitious end of the spectrum, BDO and RSM describe AI as already transformative. Ben Yip, director and head of value creation and restructuring at BDO Hong Kong, says AI has ‘compressed timelines and accelerated insight generation. Tasks that historically absorbed significant time – such as reviewing large volumes of financial data, contracts, proofs of debt and correspondence – can now be completed far more efficiently.’
The result, he argues, is that professionals at all levels spend less time on mechanical data processing and more on evaluating restructuring options and engaging with creditors.
Shift in focus
Jason Yau, partner and head of technology at RSM in Hong Kong SAR, says: ‘Within the last 12 months, AI has completely transformed restructuring consulting. The focus of consultants has moved from time-consuming data gathering to impactful strategic decision-making.’
He points to AI-powered tools that allow teams to ‘synthesise years of financial data in just a matter of hours’, enabling predictive modelling and sensitivity analysis for asset recovery scenarios.
Derek Lai, senior partner and leader of Asia-Pacific turnaround and restructuring at EY, says that ‘AI has changed restructuring consulting mainly by improving efficiency in certain support tasks. Restructuring engagements still depend on professional judgment, experience, stakeholder management and careful decision-making.’
Lai advises firms to take ‘a cautious and phased approach’, starting with lower-risk use cases such as research, standard templates and workflow administration.
Governance differentiates
There is good reason for caution. Restructuring outputs frequently underpin court filings, creditor recoveries and statutory determinations – areas where errors carry legal consequences – which explains why a ‘human-in-the-loop’ framework is deemed essential.
‘Liquidators should remain legally and ethically responsible for all decisions’
Yip at BDO describes ‘clear policies on approved AI use cases, mandatory transparency around AI usage and structured senior review at key decision points – particularly for court filings, creditor communications and determinations affecting recoveries’. Yau at RSM echoes this, warning that ‘the liquidator should remain legally and ethically responsible for all decisions’ and that AI ‘should always be treated as an assistant to the professionals’.
EY’s Lai frames it as a matter of institutional risk management. ‘Personal data, client data, privileged material and other confidential information should not be entered into non-approved AI systems,’ he says. ‘AI outputs should be reviewed by qualified professionals and should not be treated as final advice without validation.’
Rise of hybrid workforce
AI is reshaping the work – and, with it, the skills the profession demands. Christopher So, partner at PwC Hong Kong, highlights the growing premium on hybrid talent – professionals who can marry restructuring expertise with technological fluency.
‘We need talent who not only understand the complexities of a distressed company,’ he says. ‘They also need to know how to use AI as a powerful analytical tool, critically judging its output.’ PwC has invested in its proprietary ChatPwC platform and continuous upskilling programmes, but So acknowledges the challenge: ‘The market for such hybrid talent is incredibly competitive.’
According to the 2025 Intuit QuickBooks survey, 80% of accountants report difficulty hiring skilled professionals at their firm. AI could help ease the pressure, and adoption is rising fast: Wolters Kluwer found that the share of accounting professionals using AI jumped from 9% in 2024 to 41% in 2025. Yet ADP Research found in March 2026 that only 19% of professional services workers use AI daily, while 17% have never used it at work at all. The technology is gaining ground, but unevenly.
That unevenness may create opportunities. Yip argues that while the Big Four benefit from ‘organisational scale and significant investment in proprietary AI platforms’, mid-tier firms can ‘use AI to significantly reduce manual processing and deliver high-quality analysis at speed, without the need for very large teams’.
As the nature of routine analytical work evolves, he says, ‘competitive advantage shifts toward judgment, sector expertise and stakeholder management rather than firm scale alone’.
