DBS, UOB to prioritise helping staff adapt, not replace them amid AI shift

SINGAPORE: Top executives from United Overseas Bank (UOB) and Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) said on Thursday (Nov 13) that their priority is to help staff adapt in the face of automation instead of replacing them.

DBS chief data and transformation officer Nimish Panchmatia told Channel News Asia (CNA) during the Singapore FinTech Festival 2025, which is being held from Wednesday to Friday at the Singapore Expo, that what artificial intelligence (AI) will do is fundamentally change the way work gets done.

“That will mean that there are certain things that you’re doing today that AI will be able to do on your behalf tomorrow, which means your role will change,” he said, as opposed to roles disappearing.

He noted that similar fears surfaced when email, Outlook, and the internet turned up, and even earlier when robots entered factories, with many expecting manufacturing and factory jobs to disappear — but they didn’t.

“So, I think it’s another cycle. What is important is that human creativity has always been ahead of the game,” he added.

Last week, DBS announced that it would halt hiring for roles that are likely to be taken over by automation, with affected staff set to be reassigned and trained for new jobs.

This comes after former DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said in February that the bank may cut 4,000 contract and temporary jobs over the next three years in anticipation of AI taking over tasks carried out by humans.

Meanwhile, UOB innovation group’s head of enterprise AI, Alvin Eng, said the bank is focused on repurposing roles and training staff to work alongside AI tools.

“We tell our staff — you need to embrace this technology and learn with us,” he said, noting that about 10% to 15% of jobs are being evaluated for potential repurposing in the initial stage, though the bank did not provide the actual numbers.

Mr Eng said UOB has been “very active” in training its staff to use AI and has already trained over 20,000 employees in foundational generative AI (Gen AI) alone. He added that 30,000 UOB staff “all have Gen AI at their fingertips.”

UOB deputy chairman and chief executive Wee Ee Cheong also said in his keynote speech that AI should augment human abilities, not replace jobs, adding that data and AI will make finance more intelligent, predictive and inclusive over the next decades. /TISG

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