Standard Chartered boss apologises for ‘lower-value human capital’ comments amid job cuts | Standard Chartered
The chief executive of Standard Chartered has apologized for referring to some of the nearly 8,000 employees set to lose their jobs to AI as “low-value human capital”.
Bill Winters has apologized following a backlash to his comments earlier this week, as the London-based lender became one of the first major global banks to reveal plans to cut around 7,800 back-office roles, primarily in response to artificial intelligence.
“This is not cost-cutting,” he said. “In some cases, we replace lower-value human capital with the financial capital and investment capital we put in.”
winters He issued an apology on LinkedIn After receiving a number of negative comments on Friday previous post was made hours ago We are trying to explain the broader context.
“I said that lower-value roles are more vulnerable to automation and that we have a responsibility to help our colleagues move into higher-value roles,” he said in the first post. “This is what a responsible employer should do. We will continue to speak honestly about the impact of technological change and act responsibly in helping our employees adapt and thrive.”
Winters returned to LinkedIn to offer an apology of sorts following a barrage of mixed comments over his attempt to clarify the bank’s position.
“I have received a lot of support for the messages in my previous post, but I still receive questions about my choice of words, which I know upsets some of my colleagues,” he said. “I’m sorry about that.”
But Winters once again sought to justify his comments by offering the full text of what he said about those affected by Tuesday’s cut announcement, saying he hoped it would lead to a “better understanding” of his view and that he wanted to “help them deal with the increasing pace of change in our industry.”
However, many of those who commented on the post continued to criticize Winters’ second attempt to explain his choice of words.
“I have a hard time seeing the difference between what you say and what is written,” one said. “This was either a poor choice of words or an honest belief that came out as intended.”
“Your comments were absolutely disgusting. You should be ashamed of yourself for uploading them to a post,” another said.
Standard Chartered plans to cut 15% of more than 52,000 back-office roles by 2030. The company has a global workforce of approximately 82,000 people.
The roles most affected will be those in the bank’s back office centres, including those in Chennai, Bengaluru, Kuala Lumpur and Warsaw.
The cuts, along with higher shareholder return targets announced in a strategy update, come as the bank nears the end of a decade-long effort to transform itself from a potential takeover target into a consistently profitable lender.
