UOB commits 5,500 managers to AI-era leadership programme

When organisations talk about preparing for an AI-enabled workplace, the conversation usually splits into two camps: hire technologists who can build the systems, or reskill front-line workers whose tasks the systems will absorb. UOB is putting its weight behind managers, graduates and experienced staff at once. At its annual Better U employee festival, the bank committed to equip 5,500 managers to lead in an AI-enabled workplace, create job opportunities for 1,000 young graduates and widen its Gig+U programme for experienced professionals who want flexible work. Dean Tong, Head of Group Human Resources at UOB, tied the three together. "The future of work is not simply about adopting new technologies," he said. "It must come together with helping our people develop the capabilities that technology cannot replicate, such as judgement, empathy, resilience, leadership and the ability to build trust."

What the bank is building

The Better Leader Programme trains managers in the skills and mindset to build high-performing teams in an AI-enabled workplace. The Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) accredits the programme, which develops leaders across three areas (Leading Self, Leading Teams and Managing Stakeholders) through experiential learning, workplace application and reflection. UOB expects 5,500 managers across the region to go through it by the end of 2027. The bank treats human-centred leadership as an increasingly important differentiator as AI changes the workplace, because leaders still own the work of building trust, developing people and helping teams navigate change.

The programme uses AI to train the human skills it values. Managers practise workplace conversations on an AI-enabled coaching and role-play platform that UOB has customised to its leadership competencies and programme content. They rehearse career feedback, performance management, delegation, stakeholder engagement and career development, and receive personalised qualitative feedback with indicative scores against UOB's leadership competency framework straight after each assessment.

The graduate commitment answers a concern that has grown louder as AI tools have entered the workplace: that entry-level roles, the traditional proving ground for young professionals, will disappear. UOB expects to recruit 1,000 young graduates in a year into Personal Financial Services and Anti-Money Laundering roles and into early-career tracks such as the Future Bankers Programme, the Management Associate programme and internships. The Future Bankers Programme is a 24-month structured development track that trains fresh graduates before they build customer-facing skills and wealth advisory capabilities.

Gig+U and flexible careers

UOB launched Gig+U in 2021 and is now extending it to customer-facing and sales advisory roles. The programme lets experienced UOB employees, including those approaching or beyond retirement age, mothers returning to the workforce and others who want flexibility, contribute through part-time, flexible or fixed-term work. The bank will roll out the enhanced programme to employees and external hires by the first quarter of 2027. It expects to build a curated talent pool of 200 participants who receive a monthly retainer, insurance cover and access to assignments based on business needs, with pay for the work they take on. Participants complete relevant training and keep the certifications or licences they need, so UOB can match them to suitable work as it comes up. In return the bank keeps access to people with deep institutional knowledge, strong customer understanding and close alignment with its values and culture.

Why this matters for L&D

Most AI readiness programmes focus on technical literacy: how to prompt a large language model, how to audit an algorithm, how to interpret a dashboard. UOB has named a different set of capabilities as the ones that matter when AI handles more of the work. Judgement, empathy, resilience, leadership and the ability to build trust are old competencies, and they become more visible once the tasks that used to obscure them are automated. The role-play platform is the practical detail worth copying. It gives managers repeated, low-stakes practice at the hard conversations that most leadership programmes only describe.

Pairing manager development with graduate hiring and Gig+U also signals that UOB does not expect to automate its way out of the talent pipeline problem. If entry-level roles vanish, the next generation of leaders has nowhere to learn the judgement Tong says technology cannot replicate, and if experienced staff leave at retirement age, that judgement walks out the door. Training 5,500 managers through an IBF-accredited curriculum by the end of 2027 touches a large share of the bank's leadership population and treats human-centred leadership as a capability to build systematically.

For L&D and HR leaders in other sectors, UOB offers a usable template. Define the capabilities that automation cannot replicate. Build a programme that gives leaders structured practice in exercising them, with feedback tied to a competency framework. Then protect the two ends of the pipeline, structured tracks for graduates and flexible roles for experienced people, so the organisation keeps a place to learn judgement and a way to keep it.

Sources:

• UOB Group, 2026