Banks should spend as much time on their people as on data, tech: HSBC’s Tancy Tan

TANCY Tan has spent her entire career working with technology to drive transformation. Banks spend a lot of time on data, but she thinks they also need to put an equal amount of time into their people.

The chief operating officer at HSBC Singapore said that one of her main focuses at work is to build a workforce that is skilled, adaptable and mentally resilient to changes. This is because technology comes and goes, but in an industry ultimately run by people, the workforce needs to be able to adapt and continuously learn, and keep up with the constant changes in technology.

“All of us went through at least 20 years of structured curriculum before we were workforce-ready, so it’s very hard for our workforce to suddenly pivot themselves overnight,” Tan explained.