SYDNEY: Richard Henderson, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) chief executive officer (CEO) Matt Comyn says artificial intelligence (AI) will take away jobs at businesses across the economy and it’s incumbent on firms to help staff plan for the changing future.
“At CBA, as in many large organisations, some work will be done by smaller teams,” Comyn said.
“At the same time, some career paths will steepen as people use AI to take on more complex work sooner. This will create opportunities for many people, but it will be demanding for everyone.”
CBA is Australia’s largest lender and employs more than 50,000 people.
It’s rolling out new AI-backed services to its retail and business customers in the coming months, he said, as banks around the world grapple with integrating new technology for staff and clients.
Comyn was speaking ahead of an AI-focused conference that will feature tech executives including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, as well as customers and policymakers.
“Although job losses were a likely reality, many existing staff would find new opportunities harnessing the technology and new roles would likely emerge,” he said.
“An employer of our scale has a responsibility to avoid false reassurance and give people the best possible chance to adapt,” Comyn said, warning that to “delay and miss the chance to build the skills of our people” and “a stronger company” would be a mistake.
Comyn also said the bank is using AI to protect customers against fraud and scams, while “agentic systems are helping write fraud rules, strengthen security patching and solve technology issues faster,” he added.
Last week, Standard Chartered Plc CEO Bill Winters apologised for his comments about how AI will affect “lower-value human capital”, after the remarks spurred a public backlash.
CBA has emerged as a tech leader among Australian banks, forging an investment with Anthropic PBC, the company behind Claude, alongside ties to OpenAI, which runs ChatGPT.
The bank spends about A$2.4bil in technology each year and through its adoption of AI hopes to deepen customer relationships and achieve a more secure use of data.
Last year, CBA was forced to backtrack on a plan to dismiss around 45 customer service roles due to new AI technology following pressure from the country’s main financial services union.
“Change will not be painless, so it must be handled with care,” Comyn said on Tuesday. — Bloomberg
