StanChart CEO’s comments on retrenched workers trigger criticism from Halimah Yacob and netizens - Singapore News

21 May 2026, 12:06 · The Independent

SINGAPORE: Former President Halimah Yacob expressed dismay over how workers were characterised in the context of Standard Chartered announcing on Tuesday (May 19) that it was cutting around 7,800 jobs by 2030 as it employs Artificial Intelligence (AI) to streamline its workforce.

Mdm Halimah took exception to a statement made by the London-based banking corporation’s CEO, Bill Winters, to members of the media.

“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,” he said.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday evening, she wrote that reading this description of workers had been disturbing, adding a screenshot of the announcement as reported in The Straits Times, and quoting Mr Withers’ remark in her caption.

The former President pointed out that “Workers are human beings with families, not just a form of capital. They too have contributed to the bank and now, because of AI, have become redundant. It’s demeaning to describe them as ‘lower-value human capital’.”

She added that the retrenched workers will need to find employment and that the CEO’s negative description had not been helpful.

“Imagine the morale of those who remain behind, knowing that they are just another form of capital to their employer, who don’t really care about how they feel. Carry out retrenchments humanely. Treat workers with respect,” wrote Mdm Halimah.

StanChart‘s retrenchments

According to a Reuters report, in the next four years, StanChart will cut around 15% of its corporate function roles. The bank has 52,000 employees in this type of position out of a total of 82,000 of its global workforce.

The CEO added that employees who wish to be retrained would be given the chance to do so, and that positions in Chennai, Bengaluru, Kuala Lumpur, and Warsaw, where StanChart’s back-office centres are, would be the most affected.

“Of course, we’re using AI along the way, and AI will be a huge facilitator and enabler of that,” Reuters quoted Mr Winters as saying.

What netizens are saying

Mdm Halimah’s post has been much liked and shared, and many commenters expressed agreement with the points she raised.

“That’s what I told my boss and HR manager when I was made redundant in February… we are human beings and with families,” a Facebook user wrote.

“I resonate and agree with your angst. I totally reject the generalisation that human-workers are ‘lower-value human capital’, but that is how the corporates see and act it. We have heard a lot of greenwashing like ‘AI augments, not automates the workforce’. But the employment figures do not add up. There is a pervasive sense of gloom and doom for blue-collar and some parts of the white-collar demographic,” added another.

“I agree. Every worker is important and valuable,” commented a third. /TISG

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