Singapore to continue prioritising development of human capital for financial sector: Minister Teo

TO KICK off the financial sector's next phase of growth, Singapore will have to continue prioritising the development of local workers, said Minister of Manpower and Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo on Wednesday.

This will allow Singaporean workers to deepen their expertise and access new opportunities, and Singapore-based companies to expand their businesses alongside a growing local talent pool, she added in her keynote speech at the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) Awards 2020.

It was "clear" that early investments helped the financial sector to stay resilient, despite the disruptions brought about by Covid-19. Financial services remained accessible throughout, she noted. At one point, up to 85 per cent of workers in the financial industry worked from home, she pointed out.

With the uncertainties that still remain in the horizon, Singapore will adopt a three-pronged approach to enhance the Republic's position as a "trusted location of choice for financial institutions to invest and sink roots in", she said.

This includes doubling down on efforts to digitalise financial services, strengthening the connectivity of local businesses with overseas players, and helping businesses seize emerging opportunities, she added.

On the latter, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is already making a concerted push to make green finance more mainstream, which will bring about new investments in green businesses, technology and infrastructure.

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Other emerging areas include pandemic risk financing as well as restructuring and insolvency, said Mrs Teo.

In line with those plans, she urged financial institutions to push ahead with workforce transformation and capability building efforts: "You know the expertise and experience that each of your workers has, and can help them reskill and transit to new roles when job tasks and skills requirements evolve.

"To bridge skills gaps that your existing workforce may be lacking in, you can hire and train mid-career job-seekers who possess a wealth of experience and transferrable skills that can be valuable to your companies."

In her speech, she lauded several IBF Awards winners for their achievements in training and developing their workforce.

Among them is DBS Bank, which supported over 1,000 existing workers to reskill and take on new roles. Singapore's largest bank has further committed to reskill and upskill another 4,300 Singapore employees this year.

"Through these training programmes, DBS' employees are better equipped to help customers adopt digital banking, which has become ubiquitous," said Mrs Teo in her speech.

Another award recipient is UOB, which took part in the Technology in Finance Immersion Programme (TFIP) to train and hire mid-career job-seekers in key technology areas such as cloud computing, cyber security, data analytics, full-stack development and artificial intelligence.

To date, the bank has trained over 30 mid-career individuals. To take on roles within the bank's technology and operations team or retail banking team, UOB also assigns experienced mentors to provide them with on-the-job guidance, she noted.

She concluded her speech by emphasising that "building a strong pipeline of local talent is critical to our vision of a world-class workforce for the financial sector in Singapore".

The IBF Awards 2020 recognises financial institutions and individuals for their professional excellence and contributions to the development of Singapore's financial sector and its workforce.

The "Inspire Award" this year was conferred on four financial institutions: DBS, Great Eastern Singapore, Prudential Singapore and UOB, in recognition of their contributions and commitment towards their workforce.

Two industry veterans were conferred the prestigious "IBF Distinguished Fellow" award, namely Lim Khiang Tong, head of Group Operations and Technology in OCBC, and Mabel Ha, who is holding several senior advisor roles in the industry.

Another 19 financial practitioners were conferred the title of "IBF Fellow".

The IBF 2020 Awards is part of the Growing Timber series of events launched by MAS and IBF in October 2020 on the jobs and skills agenda for the financial sector.