New AI platform launched to train and upskill financial workforce

A NEW platform using artificial intelligence to automate the workforce-planning process and personalise employees’ career development was launched on Thursday (Oct 6), under a drive to train and upskill the financial workforce.

Through the platform, unveiled by Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong at the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) Distinction Dinner on Thursday, companies will be able to identify the necessary skills for various jobs and customise training to bridge the skills gaps their employees may have.  

The platform, named Future Skills Accelerator, offers four main features: internal career mobility, strategic workforce planning, talent marketplace and talent acquisition.

The internal career mobility feature automatically lists the skills needed for job roles, identifies skills gaps between current and new job roles, and recommends relevant training programmes, thereby facilitating talent development and job re-deployment.

The strategic workforce planning feature furnishes companies with real-time labour market data for insights into latest jobs, skills, and wage trends. It also carries out global skills analyses of talents to identify the desired job-fit for hiring, while prioritising internal candidates.

The talent marketplace offers employees access to a spectrum of learning opportunities like part-time gigs, projects, mentorships, and courses, based on their unique profiles.

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The talent acquisition feature helps companies to identify suitable candidates based on their job-fit and also “trainable” candidates with lower job-fit scores.

Jointly developed by the IBF, AI startup JobTech, PricewaterhouseCoopers and a group of 15 financial institutions, the platform is scalable and will enable employees to do more self-directed learning and mapping of their career path.

“This will promote a more dynamic learning and development culture, ensuring that skills are kept up to date and talents well deployed,” Gan said. 

He said that such efforts to strengthen Singapore’s finance sector are especially crucial in the face of an accelerated pace of digitalisation, fuelled by the pandemic. 

This, together with sustainability, are key engines of growth for the financial sector that need to be developed, he said. 

The government is preparing for this through initiatives such as the recently announced Talents and Leaders programme, which aims to enhance the workforce’s capabilities in technology and sustainability; the new Overseas Networks and Expertise Pass to attract top foreign talent and expand the boundaries of growth areas; and the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Greenprint, a technology platform to promote a sustainable financial ecosystem. 

With these “forward-looking” initiatives, Gan believes Singapore’s financial sector will remain relevant and competitive, even amid structural changes in the economy. 

He said: “When brought together, these two forces can power us ahead in our growth and sustainability journey.”