Standard Chartered CEO walks back ‘lower-value human capital’ AI comments

Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters on Wednesday walked back comments he made at an investor event Tuesday when he said the bank plans to cut thousands of jobs as it replaces what he called “lower-value human capital” with tech powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

Winters wrote a memo to the bank’s employees on Wednesday in which he sought to address concerns that arose following his comments on Tuesday, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

“Many of you will have seen media coverage following the investor event in Hong Kong, particularly the reporting around automation, AI, and workforce changes,” Winters wrote. “I know this may be unsettling when reduced to simple headlines or a quote out of context.”

“Where roles do fall away, it reflects changes in the work, not the value of our people,” he added in an effort to clarify his comments.

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Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters walked back comments about the firm’s AI-related job cuts. (Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The walk-back comes after Winters’ comments on Tuesday made headlines for appearing to dismiss job cuts affecting workers whose work in their roles amounted to “lower-value human capital.”

Winters spoke at an event in Hong Kong about Standard Chartered’s plan to reduce support staff by at least 15% between now and 2030, which amounts to 7,800 jobs or more.

“It’s not cost-cutting. It’s replacing in some cases lower-value human capital with the financial capital and the investment we’re putting in,” Winters told journalists ahead of the presentation.

FOX Business reached out to Standard Chartered for comment.

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The Journal reported that Winters’ presentation gave investors details regarding Standard Chartered’s plans for AI implementation, such as reducing the amount of false positives flagged in analyzing transactions to find financial crimes. 

The firm also said AI can reduce manual work needed to ensure compliance with evolving financial regulations.

Winters previously shed light on his plans for the use of AI at Standard Chartered in an earlier memo to the company’s workforce, in which he explained that, “Some roles will reduce, others will grow, and new ones will emerge.”

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Standard Chartered is in the process of implementing AI tools into the bank’s operational workflows. (Cheng Xin/Getty Images)

He added in his previous memo that the firm would make an effort to redeploy and retrain workers and would also handle job losses “with respect and care.”

Standard Chartered had about 81,000 employees at the end of 2025, as well as 17,000 contract workers. 

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