(May 21): Regulators in Hong Kong and Singapore sought clarity from Standard Chartered plc following chief executive officer Bill Winters’ unscripted “lower-value human capital” remarks, as the Asia-focused lender moves to contain fallout from the episode.
The topic came up in discussions with the Monetary Authority of Singapore on Wednesday, while the Hong Kong Monetary Authority asked the lender to explain his comments, according to people familiar with the matter. Some regulators pressed the bank about the impact of job cuts in their respective markets, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details are private.
Winters made the remarks earlier this week when referring to the role of artificial intelligence in the bank’s plans to cut thousands of roles. The phrasing drew condemnation on social media and across Asia, a region that generates most of its profits. It underscores the delicate balance CEOs face as investors push for cost cuts and deeper adoption of AI, even as companies attempt to show empathy towards displaced workers.
“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,” Winters said at a briefing in Hong Kong on Tuesday. He spoke after the London-based lender disclosed plans to eliminate close to 8,000 support roles over the next four years, making it one of the first global banks to set out how it expects AI to trim headcount.
The HKMA asked the bank if the comments meant the lender was seeking to use AI as a pretext to cut staff, one of the people said. His remarks also alarmed senior management at Standard Chartered in London and staff across operations including those in India, where the bank employs about 27,000 staff in cities such as Bengaluru and Chennai, some of the people said.
MAS said it “regularly engages with major banks in Singapore on key aspects of their business”. Standard Chartered has around 9,000 staff in Singapore, according to its website, and its biggest shareholder is the high-profile state-owned investor Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd.
See also: Standard Chartered CEO calms staff after ‘lower-value human’ backlash
The HKMA said it regularly engages with authorised institutions on a wide range of matters. The regulator doesn’t comment on day-to-day supervisory dialogues or speculative remarks, a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
“It’s common practice to have regular dialogue with our regulators on wide-ranging topics, including on strategy and growth plans,” according to an emailed statement from Standard Chartered. “Talent is core to our strategy as we continue to invest to create new, reskill and redeploy roles – this will be done in line with regulatory expectations.”
Winters sought to appease workers at the bank a day after making the remarks.
See also: HSBC chief urges staff to embrace AI as tech upends banking jobs
“Many of you will have seen media coverage following the Investor Event in Hong Kong, particularly the reporting around automation, AI, and workforce changes,” he wrote in a memo to staff that was seen by Bloomberg News. “I know this may be unsettling when reduced to simple headlines or a quote out of context.”
In a separate memo to staff before the investor briefing, Winters said “where roles do fall away, it reflects changes in the work, not the value of the people”.
Among his critics for the “lower-value human capital” comment was former Singapore President Halimah Yacob, who condemned the terminology in a Facebook post, calling it “disturbing” and “demeaning” to describe workers in such clinical terms.
Dimon defends
JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon, who was once Winters’ boss, defended him in an interview on Thursday, when asked about the outlook for AI and employment in the banking sector.
“Bill’s a friend of mine, and all of us say something incorrectly,” Dimon said on Bloomberg Television in Shanghai. “It was an inartful way to say something.” AI will affect more jobs than you think, “but it’ll also create some jobs”, he said.
Shares of Standard Chartered rose 0.2% on Thursday in London. The stock has gained about 65% over the past year, even after suffering setbacks including from the surprise departure of chief financial officer Diego De Giorgi and the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East.
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