Bank director apologizes after calling employees 'lowest value human capital'

Standard Chartered Bank CEO Bill Winters
Paul Yeung/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Standard Chartered Bank CEO has apologized after describing employees whose jobs could be replaced by artificial intelligence as "lower-value human capital."
He later attempted to contextualize the comments in a post on LinkedIn and regretted his words for having "upset some colleagues."
He added that he is committed to helping employees "cope with the rapid pace of change." recent graduates.
Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, as well as several financial services companies, have already attributed tens of thousands of layoffs to AI over the last year.
Standard Chartered is a global bank headquartered in the United Kingdom and employs, according to estimates, around 82 thousand people, the majority in back-office roles (internal operations).
In the first publication, Winters stated that he wanted to clarify what he said - and the reasons for the expressions used - during the conference with investors.
He explained that the bank had shared its forecast that back-office positions would be reduced by about 15% over the next four years - the equivalent of approximately 7,800 jobs. responsibility to help our colleagues transition into higher-value roles," he wrote.
"That's what a responsible employer should do, and I'm proud to say that our track record in supporting internal transitions is solid."
In a later post, he stated that although he received "a lot of support" in response to the first message, people still had questions; therefore, he decided to share a transcript of his original comments so that they could better understand "the important point I was trying to make."
According to him, the full text of his statements demonstrated that he holds all of his colleagues "in the highest regard" and that the institution is "fully committed to helping them adapt to the rapid pace of change our industry is going through."
In the comments section of the second post, one person said they had difficulty telling the difference between what was said at the conference and the statements "Either it was an unfortunate choice of words, or it was a genuine conviction expressed exactly as he intended," he wrote.
Another user commented: "He will forever be remembered as the guy who thinks his employees are of 'less value'." context".
After thanking his colleagues, he added that the bank will prioritize relocation "whenever possible" and that, in cases where there are changes, "we will manage them with reflection and care".

Source: G1