Standard Chartered plans to cut more than 7,000 jobs over the next four years as it increasingly uses artificial intelligence.
The London-headquartered lender is one of the first major global banks to lay out plans to cut thousands of jobs, citing AI as a driver to make its operations slimmer as it seeks to increase its profitability and tackle competition.
StanChart said on Tuesday it would cut 15% of its back-office roles by 2030, which would result in about 7,800 redundancies out of its more than 52,000 staff in such roles.
The lender has a total global workforce of nearly 82,000 and its chief executive, Bill Winters, said the reduction will be driven by automation and adoption of artificial intelligence as some staff reskill.
The most affected roles will be with the bank’s back-office centres, including those in Chennai, Bengaluru, Kuala Lumpur and Warsaw, according to Winters.
“It’s not cost-cutting. It’s replacing in some cases lower-value human capital with the financial capital and the investment capital we’re putting in,” he said.
The cuts, alongside higher shareholder return targets announced in a strategy update, come as StanChart is at the tail-end of a decade-long effort to transform itself from a potential takeover target to a steadily profitable lender.
StanChart’s move to streamline operations and rein in costs comes as more global firms slash jobs by deploying AI to improve efficiency. Global lenders are also scrambling to integrate new AI models and fend off rising cyber threats.
“Of course we’re using AI along the way and AI will be a huge facilitator and enabler of that,” Winters added, referring to the ongoing automation of more of its core banking system.
The update came as StanChart seeks to quell market speculation about succession planning after Winters’s 11-year stint at the helm, with the bank saying he will be around for the next few years to see through the latest strategy.
StanChart is seeking to deliver stronger growth even as geopolitical uncertainty clouds the outlook for some of its key markets.
Asia-Pacific banks may need to raise loan-loss provisions further if the Iran conflict drags on, as higher energy costs and weaker growth strain borrowers, analysts have said.
StanChart, which focuses on the Asia-Pacific and Africa, set aside $190m (£142m) in precautionary provisions linked to the Middle East conflict in the first three months of the year.
“We are extremely resilient,” Winters said when asked about the impact of geopolitical and market risks on its ability to reach the targets.
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