The chief executive of Standard Chartered has apologised for referring to some of the almost 8,000 staff that are set to lose their jobs to artificial intelligence as “lower-value human capital”.
Bill Winters offered the apology after a backlash over comments he made earlier this week as the London-headquartered lender became one of the first major global banks to lay out plans to cut about 7,800 back-office roles, primarily in response to AI.
“It’s not cost-cutting,” he said. “It’s replacing in some cases lower-value human capital with the financial capital and the investment capital we’re putting in.”
Winters posted an apology on LinkedIn on Friday, having received a string of negative comments after a previous post made hours earlier attempting to explain the broader context.
“I said that lower-value roles are more vulnerable to automation, and that we have a responsibility to help colleagues move into higher-value roles,” he said in the first post. “That is what a responsible employer should do. We will continue to speak honestly about the impact of technological change, and we will continue to act responsibly in helping our people to adapt and succeed.”
After a barrage of mixed comments at his attempt to clarify the bank’s position, Winters returned to LinkedIn to offer an apology of sorts.
“I have received a lot of support for the messages in my previous post but still get questions about my choice of words, which I know has caused upset to some colleagues,” he said. “For that I am sorry.”
However, Winters again went on to attempt to justify his comments by providing the full transcript of what he said about those affected by Tuesday’s cuts announcement, saying that he hoped it gave a “better understanding” of his point and that he wanted to “help them to cope with the accelerating pace of change in our industry”.
Nevertheless, many commenters on the post remained critical of Winters’ second attempt to explain away his choice of words.
“I’m struggling to see the difference between what you said and what is written,” one said. “This was either a poor choice of words or an honest belief that came out as intended.”
Another said: “Your comments were utterly disgusting. You should be ashamed of yourself for committing them to a post”.
Standard Chartered intends to cut 15% of its more than 52,000 back-office roles by 2030. The company has a global workforce of almost 82,000.
The most affected roles will be those within the bank’s back-office centres, including those in Chennai, Bengaluru, Kuala Lumpur and Warsaw.
The cuts, alongside higher shareholder return targets announced in a strategy update, come as the bank is at the tail-end of a decade-long effort to transform itself from a potential takeover target to a steadily profitable lender.