EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY 16 DECEMBER 2021
Opening Remarks by Mr Ng Nam Sin, CEO, The Institute of Banking and Finance at the IBF Distinction Evening 2021, Marina Bay Sands Expo, Orchid Ballroom, 16 December 2021
Dr Tan See Leng, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry,
Mr Leong Sing Chiong, Deputy MD, MAS
Distinguished Guests, our online audience.
Good evening! A very warm welcome to IBF Distinction Evening 2021.
1. Our special thanks to Minister Tan See Leng for being with us this evening.
2. Tonight, we recognise the professional excellence and contributions of industry leaders and financial institutions to the development of Singapore’s financial sector and its workforce. I offer my heartiest congratulations to all the award winners. Your pursuit of excellence and exemplary contributions have uplifted the industry especially amid the challenging conditions caused by the pandemic.
Growing your own timber
3. A recent Gartner survey shows that 68% of HR leaders say they will be building critical skills and competencies, an objective that has topped the priorities of HR leaders for three consecutive years. This is not new. But it has been made more urgent by the effects of COVID-19. For one, the accelerated deployment of technology has led to steep increase in demand for IT skills in all sectors.
4. Organisations typically employ the Build, Buy or Borrow strategy to acquire talents. The Buy strategy is not sustainable, particularly for skills in demand like technology. Salaries will spiral upwards which eventually will come back to hit employers.
5. The superior strategy is thus the BUILD or “Grow Your Own Timber” strategy. I am glad to share that over the last three years, financial sector players in Singapore have made good progress in Growing Your Own Timber. Let me highlight some of these achievements.
Accelerating skills development
6. Training participation accelerated with the implementation of the Enhanced Training Support package in April 2020. From 2019, we’ve seen a three-fold increase in training participation. More noteworthy, there was a 25 times increase by self-sponsored individuals, suggesting more individuals are taking ownership in upskilling themselves.
7. In 2019, we put in place initiatives to drive the adoption of IBF certifications by finance professionals. We saw strong adoption in Compliance, Risk Management, Financial Planning, Private Banking and Consumer Banking. Close to 70% of financial advisors and more than 90% of Compliance/AML and Private Banking practitioners have IBF or equivalent industry certifications.
8. The Skills Framework for Financial Services was launched in Sept 2019. It has since been adopted by about 100 financial institutions and many training providers. It has recently been updated to include two new skills maps - Family Office Executive and Family Office Management Professional. With more family offices setting up in Singapore, these new skills maps are aimed at equipping family office professionals with the necessary skills.
Developing tech talent and delivering reskilling opportunities
9. To alleviate the intense competition for tech talent, IBF worked with our financial institutions to launch the Technology in Finance Immersion Programme or TFIP in 2019. TFIP helps mid-career non-tech professionals kickstart their technology careers in the financial services sector through structured training and attachments with leading financial institutions.
10. I am glad to share that 90% of the participants in the inaugural TFIP run in 2019 managed to secure related technology jobs.
11. This year, 34 financial institutions participated in TFIP with close to 340 training places offered across 10 technology tracks, including Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity, Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Software Engineering and Technology Product Management. This is an increase from 21 financial institutions and 190 training places across 5 tracks last year.
12. Many financial institutions also forged ahead with their efforts to reskill and redeploy their employees under the Career Conversion Programme (CCP) which used to be called Professional Conversion Programme (PCP). Since 2017, more than 4,000 financial professionals are either undergoing reskilling or have transited to new or expanded roles. Consumer banking made the most progress with 70% of impacted professionals reskilled.
Supporting jobseekers and expanding hiring opportunities
13. To reach out to more jobseekers who may be impacted by the pandemic, we started holding virtual career fairs since last year and so far, close to 10,000 participants have taken part with more than 1,500 jobs on offer.
14. On the career advisory front, we have supported and assisted over 2,000 individuals since 2018 through IBF Careers Connect. We also complemented our career advisers with adjunct coaches who are veterans in their specialised fields to provide targeted support.
Partnership with our stakeholders
15. I would like to reiterate that these achievements would not have been possible without the close partnership with our stakeholders: government agencies like Workforce Singapore, Skills Future Singapore, IMDA, unions, financial institutions, as well as our IBF Distinguished Fellow and IBF Fellow community.
16. We were able to respond quickly to the challenges posed by Covid-19 because we had started our workforce transformation drive much earlier and had been pre-emptive in upskilling and reskilling our workforce, thereby minimizing the risks of retrenchment.
17. I would also like to take this opportunity to give special thanks to all our industry working members – whether you are part of IBF work groups, steering committees, exam boards, career advisory - for your dedication and contributions. And not forgetting our IBF Council Members for your invaluable guidance and support. You have all played a big part in shaping and driving many of the jobs and skills initiatives.
18. Looking ahead there is still much work to be done. Re-skilling/upskilling our workforce is a continuous effort to ensure skills relevance to changing industry needs. We need to build a stronger pipeline of talents for the financial sector, particularly in technology and in growth areas like Green Financing. Of equal importance, individuals must be encouraged to prioritize training and take ownership of their own skills development. I believe that with our close industry partnership as the foundation, we will be able to successfully forge ahead.
19. On this note, let me congratulate our award winners once again. You have an important role to play in helping the industry achieve our goals.
Thank you.