London-headquartered bank has announced plans to cut more than 15% job roles by 2030 as it scales usage of artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline processes, Bloomberg has reported.
The are expected to affect corporate functions and support roles, which include positions such as risk management and regulatory compliance, according to its website. The bank had 52,271 employees in back-office operations at the end of 2025. This means the bank is set to cut over 7,800 job roles.
“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,” CEO Bill Winters said at a briefing in Hong Kong on Tuesday, adding that affected staff would receive “good clear notice” ahead of time.
“We don’t have job losses, but we do have job role reductions in favor of the machines, and that will accelerate as we go forward into AI,” Winters added.
The job cuts would drive productivity improvements to raise income per employee by about 20% by 2028, according to StanChart.
$18 bn influx, new hub in Hong Kong
The announcement comes as Standard Chartered kicks off an investor and analyst hub in Hong Kong on Tuesday. Winters and his management team are set to outline the bank’s medium-term financial framework, growth initiatives, and strategic priorities.
Alongside the AI-driven restructuring and a recent reshuffle of senior management, the lender unveiled new return targets. Standard Chartered is aiming for a 3 percentage point improvement in its return on tangible equity, targeting 15% by 2028 and 18% by 2030. The bank also expects to improve its cost-to-income ratio to 57% by 2028.
The bank is meeting with investors after earnings hit records and comfortably outpaced analyst estimates, bolstered by a record $18 billion in net new money flows to its wealth business. That helped cushion the blow from $190 million in “precautionary management overlays” set aside to navigate risks stemming from conflict in West Asia.
After surging almost 120% between early April 2025 and early February this year, the lender’s share rally suffered a setback, first from the surprise departure of Chief Financial Officer Diego De Giorgi, and later from the outbreak of the conflict in West Asia. They have largely recovered since then.
StanChart’s job cuts announcement comes as lenders across the globe seek to automate operations using AI. HSBC Holdings is reportedly mulling deep job cuts over the coming years, while Wall Street firms are similarly pivoting. Goldman Sachs Group President and Chief Operating Officer John Waldron recently described his firm’s traditional operations as a “human assembly line” ripe for automation.