{"text":[[{"start":12.85,"text":"Standard Chartered’s chief has attempted to limit the fallout after saying AI would replace “lower-value human capital”, telling staff that the bank still valued their work even as it pressed ahead with plans to cut 8,000 jobs."}],[{"start":25.35,"text":"On Tuesday, Bill Winters told journalists that sweeping back-office lay-offs would permit the lender to replace “in some cases, lower-value human capital with the financial capital and investment capital we’re putting in”."}],[{"start":38.25,"text":"He struck a more conciliatory tone in an email to staff sent on Wednesday and seen by the FT, repeating a message that “where roles do fall away, it reflects changes in the work, not the value of our people”."}],[{"start":52.05,"text":"Winters acknowledged that the reporting of his comments might be “unsettling when reduced to simple headlines or a quote out of context”. He said StanChart would “prioritise investment in reskilling and redeployment wherever we can”."}],[{"start":65.85,"text":"“We have been open that our workforce will evolve. Some roles will reduce in number, some will change, and new opportunities will emerge,” he wrote."}],[{"start":74.69999999999999,"text":"Winters, who is the longest-serving leader of a large UK lender, has built a reputation for making eye-catching statements."}],[{"start":81.49999999999999,"text":"He previously hit out at the “grotesque” incentives created by the UK’s banker bonus cap and in 2019 criticised investors who protested against his compensation package as “immature”."}],[{"start":93.84999999999998,"text":"In 2024 he lamented that the bank’s “crap” share price did not reflect its true value. The stock was trading then at about £7 and has since soared to almost £19 a share, leaving it worth almost £42bn."}],[{"start":107.99999999999999,"text":"This latest furore comes as StanChart continues to shift away from mass-market retail banking and towards chasing more affluent clients and larger companies, particularly in and around Greater China."}],[{"start":120.74999999999999,"text":"StanChart on Tuesday unveiled its fresh medium-term strategy, which included reducing its back-office workforce by more than 15 per cent by 2030. That move equates to about 7,800 roles according to the bank’s 2025 figures."}],[{"start":137.35,"text":"Those corporate function roles include employees in the bank’s hubs in Bengaluru, Kuala Lumpur, Tianjin and Warsaw."}],[{"start":145.54999999999998,"text":"The lender also said it aimed to increase income per employee by a fifth by 2028 and raise its return on tangible equity to about 18 per cent in 2030."}],[{"start":156.1,"text":"The cuts are the latest example of European-headquartered banks seeking to use AI to slash costs."}],[{"start":162.85,"text":"Dutch lender ABN Amro announced last November that it would axe about a fifth of its full-time staff by 2028, citing increased use of AI."}],[{"start":172.79999999999998,"text":"Morgan Stanley analysts have estimated that more than 200,000 jobs at European banks could be culled by 2030 as lenders increasingly embrace AI. "}],[{"start":182.1,"text":"AI-related cuts were most likely to target back- and middle-office roles, as well as risk management and compliance positions, Morgan Stanley said."}],[{"start":191.15,"text":"Standard Chartered declined to comment."}],[{"start":202.1,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1779267610_5667.mp3"}