How are banks building tech talent in Singapore?

SINGAPORE'S financial sector wants to hire for tech roles, but banks here struggle to find local talents to meet that demand.

Data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) showed that the financial sector expects between 2,500 and 3,500 new tech roles to be created for the sector annually, over the medium term.

But as bankers tell webinar participants on Tuesday, it's far from a lost cause. Here's how they are working to boost tech talent in the sector.

Citi Singapore

The Republic is home to some of the New York-headquartered bank's regional hubs, including wealth management, cash management and trade services, foreign exchange and fixed income trading, cybersecurity, and its innovation lab.

Each of these are supported by tech expertise, including a base of Singapore talent that has been built over the years, said Citi's Asean head and Singapore chief executive Amol Gupte. While Singaporeans are often said to possess excellent coding expertise, they lack other tech skills.

Citi is currently looking at building an equities hub in Singapore.

"Again, that will mean going through the same journey, bringing in talent that is not available and is likely to be foreign, and then slowly, over time, transferring those skills and building the Singaporean core," Mr Gupte said.

On how financial institutions here can help strengthen local talent, Mr Gupte said it is important for Singaporeans to take up short assignments in Citi's tech and innovation hubs abroad, such as in Israel and India.

"That's a great period to truly immerse yourself in a different culture, in a place that has tremendous scale specialisation and a massive ecosystem for start-ups," he said.

Citi is also looking out for mid-career hires who have adjacent skills, as the number of fresh graduates are insufficient to fill its pipeline, Mr Gupte said.

"But it's a two-way street. We need people who are interested, who want to learn as well, who want to take on new experiences, new challenges, knowing they may not have the skills but are willing to learn," he said.

DBS

In its transformation from a legacy bank to a tech company, Southeast Asia's largest bank has been experimenting with artificial intelligence and machine learning.

But beyond the technologies themselves, clear communication is important to ensure that employees move along the same page, said Alex Woo, chief executive of DBS Asia Hub 2.

DBS Asia Hub 2 is the bank's first technology development centre outside Singapore in Hyderabad, India.

For instance, when the organisation transitions to a new technology, it uses "burndown charts", a graphical tool that measures a project's progress over time, to ensure that its staff follow a "rigorous and disciplined" approach to achieve the final goals, said Mr Woo, who is based in Hyderabad.

DBS is looking at a "cross-pollination" programme that gives its technologists opportunities to work from both Singapore and India, he added.

JPMorgan

JPMorgan considers Singapore its "home to innovation", said Tancy Tan, the bank's executive director and global head of intelligent automation.

She cited the JPM Coin as an example of one of its "Singapore accomplishments".

The digital currency, which enables instant fund transfers between some of the bank's clients, originated from Project Ubin, a consortium effort set up by the MAS and state investment firm Temasek to explore the use of blockchain and distributed ledger technology.

JPMorgan, which is headquartered in New York, actively leverages Singapore's junior talent to fill its technology pipeline, Ms Tan said, noting that most of its full-time entrants have previously completed summer internships with the bank. Other tech roles available here range from blockchain, cloud computing, to robotics.

"As the business grows, there is no shortage of opportunities in technology roles, whether it's different forms of market business, wholesale payments and wealth management," she said.

JPMorgan runs a 12-month apprenticeship programme targeting top polytechnic graduates. Apprentices get posted to a variety of tech and non-tech roles. The bank also runs a 14-week rotational re-entry programme for experienced professionals looking to relaunch their careers, with the prospect of a permanent offer at the end.

Institute of Banking and Finance

The Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) is embarking on an expanded version of its Work-Study Support Programme, where undergraduates spend about a third of their curriculum time with financial institutions and focus on key areas of their choice.

From May, the Nanyang Technological University and National University of Singapore will be offering 200 undergraduates such training spots, for roles in business risk managers, cybersecurity analysts, relationship managers and product data analysts, said IBF chief executive Ng Nam Sin.

The IBF is also looking to tweak its Finance Associate Management Scheme (FAMS) for graduates by making it more technology-centered.

"By now, all of us would agree that leadership in a bank is not just about whether you are a finance graduate or management graduate. Everyone needs to have some literacy in technology... So a technology-focused FAMS programme is something we want to push."

IBF's Technology in Finance Immersion Programme, equips non-tech, STEM-qualified (science, technology, engineering or mathematics) participants with skills in new areas such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and full stack development, has seen growth from 70 to 190 trainees since it started in 2019.

The next phase of the programme will cover more areas, including technology product management, user experience design and digital marketing.

"The good thing about some of these new areas is, you may not need a STEM background, so the entry barriers may not be as high," Mr Ng said.