DBS to cut 4,000 temp staff over next 3 years, replace them with AI

DBS Group Holdings will cut around 4,000 of its contract and temporary staff workforce over the next three years.

This comes as the bank ramps up its adoption of artificial intelligence, said chief executive officer Piyush Gupta, according to Bloomberg.

Permanent staff will not be affected.

Temp staff currently amount to about 8,000 to 9,000 members of the banking group's 41,000-strong workforce, the outgoing CEO said.

He will be succeeded by deputy CEO Tan Su Shan on Mar. 28.

Speaking to Mothership, a DBS spokesperson said that the reduction in the bank's workforce will come from "natural attrition as temp and contract roles roll off over the next few years".

The spokesperson added that it will "continue to invest in upskilling and reskilling [their] employees".

So far, the bank has identified around 13,000 employees, and commenced training for about 10,000 of them, including in areas like AI and data.

Layoffs everywhere

The move comes after layoffs and retrenchments by a number of large local and global companies, including Meta, TikTok, SingPost, and PropertyGuru.

Earlier in January, Bloomberg reported that global banks will cut as many as 200,000 jobs in the next three to five years.

This is as artificial intelligence continues to encroach on roles currently carried out by humans.

Around three per cent of the workforce is expected to be cut, with back office and middle office roles most at risk, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

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