Bank boss sorry after describing workers as 'lower value human capital'
The CEO of Standard Chartered, Bill Winters, has apologized for referring to certain employees as 'lower value human capital' in the context of job cuts due to automation. His comments, made during a conference, sparked backlash and he later clarified his statements on LinkedIn, expressing regret for any upset caused. Winters emphasized the bank's commitment to helping affected staff transition to higher-value roles as AI continues to reshape the workforce.
- ▪Bill Winters described some employees as 'lower value human capital' during a conference on automation.
- ▪He later apologized for his wording, stating it caused upset among colleagues.
- ▪Standard Chartered expects to cut about 15% of back office roles, approximately 7,800 positions, over the next four years.
7 outlets in our directory ran this story, first to last over 35 hours. Coverage spans 2 points on the political spectrum — 2 lean left, 4 centre.
- ▪ Bank boss sorry after describing workers as 'lower value human capital' — r/technology
- ▪ ‘I am sorry’: Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters apologises for comments over job cuts — South China Morning Post
- ▪ Standard Chartered boss apologises for ‘lower-value human capital’ comments amid job cuts — The Guardian — UK
- ▪ The CEO of Standard Chartered says he's sorry for his 'lower value human capital' comments — Business Insider
- ▪ Regulators question Standard Chartered after CEO calls cut roles ‘lower-value human capital’ — Crypto Briefing
- ▪ StanChart Fields Regulator Queries After CEO’s ‘Lower-Value Human Capital’ Remark - Bloomberg.com — Google News
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| Original publisher | BBC News — Business |
| Canonical URL | https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98rqld1j3yo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss |
| Publication time | Fri, 22 May 2026 13:45:56 GMT |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-22T13:52:02.305Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-22T13:52:02.305Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
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| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
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| Cluster | AALViGSu3YID · 7 stories |
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| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Bank boss sorry after describing workers as 'lower value human capital'Just nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleJemma CrewBusiness reporterPaul Yeung/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesThe boss of Standard Chartered has apologised after describing employees whose jobs are vulnerable to being replaced by Artificial Intelligence (AI) as "lower value human capital".Discussing how automation was likely to lead to thousands of job cuts at the bank at a recent conference, Bill Winters said it wasn't about cost cutting but "replacing, in some cases, lower value, human capital, with the financial capital and the investment capital that we're putting in".He later sought to contextualise the remarks via LinkedIn and said he was sorry for his wording, which had "caused upset to some colleagues".He said he…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at BBC News — Business.
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