London – Standard Chartered will eliminate more than 7,000 jobs over the next four years as the London-headquartered bank moves to replace what its chief executive described as “lower-value human capital” with technology, making it one of the biggest names in global finance to target headcount cuts using artificial intelligence.
The bank announced on Tuesday that it would cut 15% of its corporate function roles by 2030, which amounts to more than 7,000 redundancies out of its more than 52,000 staff in such roles. The bank has a total global workforce of nearly 82,000 people.
CEO Bill Winters was direct about the reasoning behind the move. “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 told reporters. 
Winters said the reductions would be driven by automation and the adoption of artificial intelligence, while some staff would be given the opportunity to retrain. “So, the people that want to reskill, that want to carry on, we’re giving every opportunity to reposition,” he said.
The most affected roles will be in the bank’s back-office centres, including those in Chennai, Bengaluru, Kuala Lumpur and Warsaw. “Of course we’re using AI along the way and AI will be a huge facilitator and enabler of that,” Winters added, referring to the bank’s ongoing effort to automate more of its core banking system.
The job cuts come alongside higher shareholder return targets announced as part of a strategy update, as StanChart wraps up a decade-long effort to transform itself from a potential takeover target into a steadily profitable lender. The bank’s London-listed shares, which have risen 65% over the past 12 months, fell 0.5% in early trading on Tuesday, as analysts said the new targets were at the conservative end of their expectations.
“In a world full of uncertainty, performance may prove more challenging further out,” said Ed Firth, analyst at Keefe, Bruyette and Woods, citing how the bank has benefited in recent years from high interest rates and large wealth flows.
StanChart said it would deliver over 15% return on tangible equity in 2028, more than three percentage points higher than in 2025, building to about 18% in 2030. The bank also pulled forward its goal of attracting 200 billion dollars in net new money to 2028, from the previously set deadline of 2029.
StanChart, which focuses on the Asia-Pacific and Africa, set aside 190 million dollars in precautionary provisions linked to the Middle East conflict in the first quarter. When asked about geopolitical and market risks, Winters said: “We are extremely resilient.”
The strategy update also addressed market speculation about succession planning after Winters’ 11-year stint at the helm, with the bank confirming he would remain in place for the next few years to see through the latest strategy. On Monday, the bank named Manus Costello, its investor relations head and equity research veteran, as its permanent CFO, succeeding Diego De Giorgi, who resigned in February after nearly three years with the bank.
StanChart’s move follows a broader global trend of financial institutions deploying AI to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Japanese lender Mizuho in March announced up to 5,000 job cuts over a decade, as banks worldwide scramble to integrate frontier AI models and manage rising cyber threats.
