DBS plans to reduce its headcount by 4,000 over the next three years, with outgoing CEO Piyush Gupta arguing that AI can help take on responsibilities previously carried out by human employees.
Gupta revealed the plan at an IT event in India, according to the Press Trust of India. He noted that AI was unlike any other technology he’d dealt with in the past.
“In my 15 years of being a CEO, for the first time, I’m struggling to create jobs. I'm struggling to say how I will repurpose people to create jobs," Gupta said, though he added that 1,000 new positions will be added in AI.
A DBS spokesperson told Fortune that over the next three years the bank anticipates that AI could reduce the need to renew about 4,000 temporary or contract staff working on specific projects. As such, the bank expects the reduction will come from "natural attrition" as the roles are completed.
DBS had 41,354 staff at the end of 2024, according to its latest quarterly report. The bank has about 8,000 to 9,000 contract or temporary workers, which a DBS spokesperson later clarified are not included as part of the bank's headcount. Permanent staff won't be affected by the job cuts.
The bank also told Fortune it's investing in its employees to enable them to be "future ready." Some 13,000 staff have been earmarked for "upskilling or reskilling" and over 10,000 have commenced training on skills such as AI and data.
Since ChatGPT’s release in 2022, analysts have warned that generative AI could put white-collar jobs at risk from automation.
Research suggests that banking could be a key source of job losses from AI, as banks look to automate back office roles, customer service, and compliance. A January report from Bloomberg Intelligence suggests that global banks might cut as many as 200,000 jobs in the next three to five years.
DBS is Southeast Asia’s largest bank by revenue, and ranks No. 10 on Fortune’s Southeast Asia 500. It’s the first of Singapore’s Big Three banks to suggest how AI will affect its headcount.
What DBS's next CEO thinks about AI
Gupta, who’s served as CEO since 2009, is stepping down from his role at the end of March. He will be replaced by Tan Su Shan, the company’s deputy CEO and group head of institutional banking.
At Fortune Brainstorm AI Singapore last July, Tan said her “number one task” was to get “everyone to drink the Kool-Aid” on AI, and encourage employees to take responsibility for the new technology. “Let them own the model. Let them own the feedback loop. Let them own the outcomes,” she said. Tan also explained how AI tools can leverage the bank’s wealth of data to help bankers overcome inherent biases and make more calculated decisions.