The Banking and Financial Services Union has called for early support for Standard Chartered employees who may be affected by the bank’s AI-linked job cuts, Channel News Asia reported.
Standard Chartered plans to reduce more than 15 percent of its corporate function roles by 2030. The move is expected to affect more than 7,000 roles.
The bank has more than 52,000 employees in corporate function roles and nearly 82,000 staff worldwide.
BFSU Executive Secretary Catherine Cho urged Standard Chartered to keep investing in workers as banking roles change.
She called for early transition support, including training and upskilling.
Standard Chartered has not given a figure for how many Singapore-based employees may be affected.
Its Singapore unit is unionised under BFSU, an affiliate of the National Trades Union Congress.
CEO Comment Puts Workforce Plans Under Scrutiny
The planned cuts have drawn attention partly because of comments by Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters, who described the shift as replacing some “lower-value human capital” with technology.
Winters also framed the move as more than a cost-cutting exercise, saying the bank was redirecting capital into technology and investment.
Standard Chartered has maintained that affected staff will have access to upskilling, reskilling and redeployment support.
The bank has also indicated that its workforce mix will change, with some roles removed while others expand or are created.
BFSU said its watching the Singapore situation as banks adopt more AI across operations.
Cho urged employers to consider retraining and redeployment first when technology changes job requirements.
The union has linked up with NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute and the Institute of Banking and Finance Singapore to assist Standard Chartered staff.
Employees can be directed to career guidance, job fairs and training support to prepare for new roles.
Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by Shkuru Afshar via Wikipedia
