StanChart S'pore to retrain over 3,000 staff in three years

Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore has launched a plan to re-skill and re-train more than 3,000 employees in three years to prepare them for future roles amid a changing financial industry.

The plan builds on an existing programme, SkillsFuture@sc, which StanChart launched last year to identify and source for training that would equip its people for the future.

Under this programme, employees who work for Standard Chartered's franchise in Singapore can sign up for any of over 100 bank-sponsored courses, on top of taking up a SkillsFuture course using the government credit of S$500 awarded to Singaporeans aged 25 and above.

In 2017, more than 800 employees have enrolled for the courses under SkillsFuture@sc.

For the next three years, StanChart aims to do more by introducing a structured re-skilling plan, targeting to re-train more than 3,000 employees by 2020.

The plan is to identify around 1,000 employees each year who fall under two main categories - employees whose roles may be at risk in the future and employees who would benefit from an expansion of skillset and growth. They will be encouraged to enroll for the courses, and upon completion, be able to apply for a different role within the bank.

Charlotte Thng, StanChart Singapore's head of human resources, said: "The best thing we can do for our employees is to help them be prepared for their future roles."

As machines and technology change job scopes within the financial industry, the bank is focusing on training that enhances people's technological skills in data analytics, block chain, data mining and artificial intelligence, she added.

"We need to better understand technology and know how to use it to help us be better and faster in our work."

The second area of focus is to help employees be even more 'human' in their jobs and provide the extra human touch which machines can't replace, she said.

The training will be in areas such as customer interaction, human centred design and project management.

"The key is to enhance our strengths and be better at what makes us different from machines."