StanChart Singapore to invest extra S$5m in talent development, reskilling

STANDARD Chartered Singapore on Tuesday said it will invest an additional sum of S$5 million to boost its talent development and reskilling efforts.

Over the last two years, the bank has been investing in this aspect to support ongoing plans to grow the business and accelerate digitalisation, said StanChart Singapore in a statement.

Nurturing a diverse group of future leaders has been a key pillar of its talent development initiatives, said the bank. It will provide close to 350 traineeship and career opportunities in 2020, giving jobseekers an early headstart.

The bank will also continue to participate in industry initiatives such as the SGUnited Traineeships Programme, SkillsFuture Work-Study Programme, and the Finance Associate Management Scheme.

Meanwhile, it will also ramp up its SkillsFuture@SC programme - launched in 2016 - to help employees prepare for the future by up-skilling them through to 2022.

Since the programme was launched, 20 per cent of employees who participated have upgraded their professional skills and have been successfully redeployed to roles such as digital banking, risk, compliance, and relationship management, said the lender.

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Training is customised based on the employees' interests, stage of their career and in line with industry transformation needs. Employees can tap various industry reskilling and redeployment programmes to upgrade their skillsets or take on a different role.

StanChart Singapore said it was one of the first financial institutions to embark on the Professional Conversion Programme (PCP). In addition to hiring mid-career workers, the bank had also tapped the programme to reskill more than 80 employees into new or enhanced job roles within the organisation.

It will continue adopting the PCP to reskill more than 200 employees into new or enhanced job roles, said the bank.

To facilitate continuous learning within the organisation, the bank recently enhanced its interactive learning platform for employees to access bite-sized modules ranging from blockchain to data, artificial intelligence, leadership, and personal development. This is in addition to existing virtual classroom trainings and e-learning programmes.

The Singapore franchise is a key beneficiary of the UK-based group's US$1.6 billion three-year investment, with a focus on digital. The Republic is also home to majority of the bank's global business leadership, as well as technology, operations, and innovation hubs. Strategy, thought leadership and ideas are incubated here for global implementation.

Patrick Lee, chief executive of StanChart Singapore, said: "The success of the bank heavily depends on the resilience of our people. This is why we need to stay on the front foot of the changing environment and the needs of our clients, to ensure our employees stay relevant, competitive and future-ready."