SINGAPORE — OCBC Bank announced on Monday (July 23) that it will be cutting its bank teller jobs by half within the next two years, with affected staff to be reassigned other digital or advisory roles such as digital ambassadors and service executives.

OCBC stressed that “no tellers employed today will lose their jobs as a result”, and the existing network of 51 bank branches will “remain largely unchanged”, it said in a press release. The bank currently employs more than 300 tellers.

The move comes as OCBC rolls out a S$14 million plan to install new automated teller machines (ATMs) and digital service kiosks that will act as “mini branches”. They will be installed at 35 bank branches by 2020, and will allow customers to perform 15 of the most frequent bank counter services previously done by bank tellers, such as cash deposits, larger withdrawals, and updating of personal details.

With the “declining interest” in bank teller roles, and the introduction of new ATMs and kiosks, OCBC said the redeployment of tellers would enable them to “perform higher value-added tasks that require decision making or physical verification”.

The goal is to train all OCBC Bank tellers over the next five years to perform digital or advisory roles.

For instance, digital ambassadors can help guide elderly customers to use the new ATMs and digital service kiosks, and their roles will be “beefed up” to include other tasks previously conducted by bank tellers.

These can include verifying the identity of customers who have made cash withdrawals above their daily limit. After receiving a notification on a mobile tablet, the ambassador can then approach the customer at the ATM, verify his or her identity and approve the transaction using the tablet.

OCBC said this would be a shift away from the bank tellers’ “repetitive” and “menial” tasks such as processing cash transactions, which currently make up close to 90 per cent of transactions at branch teller counters.

Currently, one in three OCBC bank tellers are fresh polytechnic graduates, while the rest are experienced tellers or staff hired from other banks and industries. Over the last five years, OCBC has slashed headcount for bank tellers by 15 per cent due to digitisation “impacting footfall into bank branches”, said the bank.

Since the pilot launch of the new ATMs and digital service kiosks at eight OCBC branches in May this year, the branches have migrated close to 10 per cent of over-the-counter transactions to these machines, and over 35,000 transactions have been performed.

The new ATMs and kiosks also come equipped with features such as facial and fingerprint scanners for biometric authentication, and signature pads which can be activated for customers’ use in future.

By next year, customers will also be able to scan their cash cheques at the ATM to receive the money immediately, and they can even get up to S$200,000 cash dispensed to them in one transaction.

Likening the machines to a “new generation” of tellers, Ms Teng Wan Xian, 28, a digital ambassador and former bank teller who has worked at OCBC Bank for seven years, said they have also cut down customers’ waiting time.

“(It allows) us to provide better customer service as customers do not have to wait long to transact with tellers at the counter,” she said.

BANKING GOES DIGITAL

Other banks in Singapore have also embarked on a big push into digital banking, with DBS and United Overseas Bank (UOB) reskilling employees via their respective Professional Conversion Programmes (PCP).

Responding to queries from TODAY, DBS said that about two thirds of all branch employees have undergone training, with the remaining staff to do so in the next 12 months. Last October, the bank had announced plans to reskill 1,500 staff under the PCP.

“Employees who have undergone training are now equipped to handle a broader range of products and services, as well as better manage and advise customers on their financial needs, said its spokesperson.

Since 2016, DBS has enhanced some branches to 24-hour digital services lobbies, and this was followed by its Video Teller Machines (VTMs) which offer non-cash banking services such as change of personal particulars and statement requests, replacing bank cards and tokens. Its 25 machines also offer face-to-face assistance from customer service officers via live video streaming. 

DBS’s 120 branch teller machines also allow customers to make cash withdrawals and deposits with their passbooks or ATM cards, and they can withdraw up to S$200,000 per transaction after it is revalidated by branch staff. 

A UOB spokesperson said that it launched PCP last year for “customer-facing colleagues in our branches to deepen their digital skills in areas such as design thinking, customer journey design and data analytics”.

The bank added that one in four bank tellers had their roles broadened to guide customers – from individuals to small and medium-sized enterprises – in using digital services at the branch. All UOB bank tellers will be equipped with “the relevant skillsets to take on broader roles at the branches” within the next two years, said UOB.