Standard Chartered to slash over 7,000 roles as AI use escalates

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - LONDON — Standard Chartered has become the latest company to announce job cuts as it seeks to replace "lower-value human capital" with technology.

The London-based banking giant said it will cut around 7,800 of its back-office roles in four years, becoming one of the top names in finance to target headcount cuts using artificial intelligence to increase profitability.

Companies around the world have announced major job cuts in recent months as they increasingly use AI tools for tasks currently carried out by humans.

"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," StanChart CEO Bill Winters told reporters.

The bank has a total global staff of nearly 82,000. Winters told reporters the reduction will be driven by automation and adoption of artificial intelligence as some staff retrain.

"So, the people that want to reskill, that want ⁠to carry on, we're giving every opportunity to reposition," Winters said, referring to the retraining option given to impacted staff.

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.

The most affected roles will be in the bank's back-office centers, including ‌those in ⁠Chennai, Bengaluru, Kuala Lumpur and Warsaw, according to Winters.

"Of course we're using AI along the way and AI will be a huge facilitator and enabler of that," he added, referring to its ongoing revamp to automate more of its core banking system.

StanChart said it would deliver over 15% return on tangible equity (ROTE) in 2028, more than three percentage points higher than in 2025, and building to about 18% in 2030.

The bank is underpinning its new target by keeping its focus on higher-margin businesses, including affluent retail clients and financial institutions within its corporate and investment banking division.

Notably the lender ⁠pulled forward a goal of attracting $200 billion of net new money to 2028 from the previously set 2029. In the first quarter, the bank reported both its highest wealth revenue and new client money.

StanChart's move to streamline operations and rein in costs comes as more global firms slash jobs by deploying AI to improve efficiency.

Japanese lender Mizuho in March unveiled up to 5,000 job cuts over a decade. And banks globally are scrambling to integrate frontier AI models and fend off rising cyber threats.

In February, Singapore's biggest bank, DBS, said it expected to cut about 4,000 contract and temporary roles over the next three years.

Huge AI-related job losses are expected to hit technology industry workers and graduates particularly hard.

Several big tech firms, most of which are spending huge sums on building tools and infrastructure for AI technology, have made major job cuts this year.

In April, Facebook owner Meta said it will cut thousands of jobs next month as it spends more than ever on AI projects.

The company told employees that it planned to cut 10% of its workforce — roughly 8,000 staff. It said it would also not fill thousands more open jobs it had been hiring for.

Amazon announced in January that it would lay off more than 30,000 workers, while Oracle laid off more than 10,000 workers.