13,000 DBS employees to learn AI, data skills as bank plans to cut 4,000 workers over 3 years

DBS Bank has identified about 13,000 staff for upskilling or reskilling and over 10,000 of them have started training for artificial intelligence (AI) and data-related skills, the bank said on Feb 25.

"We will continue to invest in upskilling and reskilling our employees to enable them to be future-ready," a DBS spokesperson said.

The disclosure comes a day after Bloomberg reported on Feb 24 that South-east Asia's largest bank by assets expects to cut the headcount of its contract and temporary staff by around 4,000 over the next three years as AI increasingly takes on roles carried out by humans.

The 4,000 staff are spread across the 19 markets that DBS operates in, and they work on various projects, the DBS spokesperson said, without specifying details such as how many Singapore workers are affected and what roles they are in.

DBS said they expect the reduction in workforce will come from natural attrition as these temporary and contract roles are completed over the next few years.

Outgoing chief executive Piyush Gupta said there are 8,000 to 9,000 of such contract and temporary staff, according to the Bloomberg report.

DBS has a total headcount of around 41,000 staff. Its permanent staff across its markets are not impacted, the bank added.