Manpower Minister urges financial practitioners to build deep domain knowledge, among other advices
Singapore
MINISTER for Manpower Tan See Leng urged practitioners in the financial and insurance sector to build deep domain knowledge, acquire horizontal skills, and go international to seize opportunities.
Dr Tan, who was speaking at the Institute of Banking and Finance Singapore (IBF) Distinction Evening on Thursday (Dec 16), noted how private equity and venture capital will continue to be in demand as companies look for strategic investors to scale up, extract value and provide access to business connections, technology and expertise.
The rise of the digital economy, meanwhile, will drive up the demand for tech jobs, while financial institutions will need to ramp up capabilities to carry out different aspects of green finance. Hence, the types of services that consumers will need and how they expect to receive will dictate the type of skills and capabilities that financial institutions need.
"To seize the opportunities I have just shared about, I urge individuals to build deep domain knowledge, acquire horizontal skills, and go international," he said.
The reskilling efforts by financial institutions have enabled over 4,000 practitioners to acquire new skills to move into new or expanded roles, he also noted. Dr Tan, who is also the Second Minister for Trade and Industry, encourages practitioners to pursue the IBF certification so as to position themselves well for the opportunities.
Shee Tse Koon, Singapore country head, and Philip Fernandez, group corporate treasurer, at DBS Bank; August Hatecke, co-head of UBS global wealth management APAC at UBS; and Anurag Mathur, head of wealth & personal banking Singapore and Gautam Mukharya, chief risk officer at HSBC Bank (Singapore) were conferred the IBF Distinguished Fellow award at the event. Another 27 practitioners clinched the IBF Fellow award.
Manulife Singapore, Bank of Singapore and OCBC Bank won the IBF Inspire Award for their contributions and commitment towards workforce transformation.
Deutsche Bank clinched the inaugural IBF Advance Award for having demonstrated good progress in skills development and a growing commitment in workforce transformation.
