Hiring in Singapore: Inside Financial Institutions

by Knowledge@SMU, 07 May 2010

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topics:
Human Capital Management Professional Development

tags:
ANZ Bank Bill Foo Daniel Chan DBS Lam Kun Kin Lion Global Investors OCBC Piyush Gupta

The heart-stopping months of September and October 2008 have been seared in the memories of all financial market players – or were they? Almost as quickly as the house of cards collapsed, the global financial industry is back – a tad restrained this time round, perhaps, but with scant traces of a massive hangover.

Now, headhunters are saying that insurance, real estate, and finance are three sectors in Singapore that will hire at a rate expected to reach pre-recession levels in the first quarter of the year. As employment tends to be a lagging indicator, this clearly reinforces the view that recovery is well underway in the Lion City.

The point was echoed by senior industry executives who spoke at a recent talk organised by the Financial Training Institute@SMU, entitled “Dialogue with Industry Leaders: Pathways to Successful Banking and Finance Careers”.

The panel was made up of Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS, Southeast Asia’s largest bank, Lam Kun Kin, executive vice president for group treasury at OCBC, Daniel Chan, CEO and chief investment officer of fund manager Lion Global Investors, and Bill Foo, Singapore CEO of ANZ Bank.

Different script, different cast

One trend that emerged was that the human resources departments of financial institutions are getting busier. OCBC will be offering many contract staff the chance to convert to permanent appointments; ANZ Bank has doubled its headcount to around 700, and following its takeover of the Singapore businesses of the Royal Bank of Scotland, that number will double again. DBS under Gupta, who took on the job in November last year, is revising its human resource development roadmap.

However, there is no illusion that that the party is resuming. “Even as the short term manpower prospect for the sector improves, it is equally important that we keep an attentive eye towards the longer term future,” said Chan Heng Kee, CEO of the Workforce Development Agency.

“As a regional and international financial centre, Singapore must ensure that our financial workforce remains at the forefront of knowledge and skills, especially since the sector continues to face sweeping changes and structural shifts following the recent crisis,” he added.

Those who wish to join and build a career in this industry need to bring along a different set of skills and come with new mindsets. Even business schools – somewhat embarrassed by the role that their MBAs play in causing the crisis – know that they have to help shape a different set of values. Those who are committed to staying in the industry need to adapt to a different environment and live with closer scrutiny and tighter regulations.

More regulations

“One big change is that regulatory controls in banking and finance will increase. We saw the start in 2009,” said OCBC’s Lam, who has more than two decades of experience in the industry. “The full picture has not arrived and in the next six to 12 months you will hear a lot of announcements with regards to increased capital and increased liquidity requirements,” said Lam, who was previously with Asia Financial Holdings, a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings.

Regulation, according to DBS’ Gupta, will be influenced by the increasingly cross-border nature of transactions. To Lion’s Chan, regulation will be a newfound art that the world seeks to perfect over the next decade.

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