Singapore’s largest bank says it is expected to cut 4,000 roles over the next three years as artificial intelligence (AI) takes on more jobs than humans currently do.
“The decline in the workforce is due to natural exhaustion as temporary contract roles and contract roles will roll off over the next few years,” a DBS spokesperson told the BBC.
Permanent staff are not expected to be affected by the cuts. Bank’s leaving chief executive Piyush Gupta also said he hopes to create around 1,000 new AI-related jobs.
DBS will be one of the first major banks to provide details on how AI will affect its operations.
The company did not say how many jobs will be cut in Singapore or which roles will be affected.
DBS currently has between 8,000 and 9,000 temporary workers and contract workers. The bank employs a total of approximately 41,000 people.
Last year, Gupta said DBS had been working on AI for over a decade.
“We have over 800 AI models today in 350 use cases, and in 2025 these measured economic impacts were S$1 billion ($745 million, £592 million) “We expect it to surpass that,” he added.
Gupta is scheduled to leave the company at the end of March. He will be replaced by current Deputy Chief Executive Tan Soo Shan.
With the continued spread of AI technology, its benefits and risks are in the spotlight, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it will affect almost 40% of all jobs worldwide in 2024.
“In most scenarios, AI is likely to exacerbate overall inequality,” said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey told the BBC last year that AI will learn that human workers will work together with new technology, rather than “a large-scale destroyer of employment.”
Bailey said that AI has risks, but “it has great potential.”
