AI Banking: Singapore Government Working with Banks on Artificial Intelligence to Avoid Mass Layoffs
Australian Financial Review
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Details
- Date Published
- 15 Jan 2026
- Priority Score
- 3
- Australian
- No
- Created
- 17 Jan 2026, 06:47 am
Description
In a bid to limit job losses, all local employees of the city-state’s three major banks will be taught new technology skills over the next one to two years.
Summary
The article highlights Singapore's government collaboration with banks to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) in a manner that avoids significant job losses by retraining bank employees. This initiative is a proactive approach to harness AI's efficiencies, such as AI models that drastically reduce the time required for tasks traditionally handled by private bankers. These efforts involve detailed risk management strategies to mitigate AI errors, ensuring human oversight and maintaining employment levels. The strategy is relevant to global AI governance as it presents a model for balancing technological advancement with social stability and workforce adaptation.
Body
Rthvika SuvarnaJan 15, 2026 – 5.00amKelvin Chiang knew the five agentic AI models built by his team could in 10 minutes do what used to take a private banker an entire day. With that in place, he went to show Singapore’s banking regulator that the safeguards would sufficiently control the risks.Before rolling out the tool that drafts documents for relationship managers at the private wealth arm of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC), he took his team of data scientists a kilometre across the city’s downtown finance district to the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Chiang highlighted the steps the bank would take if things went wrong with their blueprints and how staff would react if the system hallucinated.Loading...BloombergSaveLog in or Subscribe to save articleShareCopy linkCopiedEmailLinkedInTwitterFacebookCopy linkCopiedShare via...Gift this articleSubscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? LoginFollow the topics, people and companies that matter to you.Find out moreRead MoreAIInvestment bankingReviewSingaporeGoldman SachsJobsFuture technologyFetching latest articles