While MAS currently funds half of financial institutions' training fees under the Financial Training Scheme, MAS' executive director Ng Sam Sin on Monday this support will now be upped to 70 per cent.

Speaking at the SMU-Standard Chartered Bank Advanced Diploma in Private Banking graduation ceremony on Monday, Mr Ng added: 'Institutions need to continue to invest in talent development even in the current market downturn. This will position them strategically to capture growth opportunities in the upturn.

'MAS will do our part to encourage these efforts.'

More incentives are in store for training programmes which are accredited under the Financial Industry Competency Standards (FICS), a set of competency standards that is benchmarked against international ones. They will get a higher grant support of 80 per cent.

This support extends to individuals whose training programmes are not sponsored by financial institutions - they just have to attend and complete FICS-accredited programmes.

These enhanced training incentives will be in place for two years, until Dec 31, 2010.

MAS also announced on Monday that it is in the 'final stages' of setting up a 'sukuk issuance facility' that will allow it to issue domestic bonds complying with Islamic principles.

Mr Heng Swee Keat, managing director of MAS, said this was part of efforts to promote the growth of Islamic Finance in Singapore.

Speaking at the 15th World Islamic Banking Conference in Bahrain, Mr Heng added: 'As Islamic Finance grows, cross-border transactions will multiply.

'Our regulatory framework must continue to evolve to maintain regulatory consistency in managing the underlying substance of the risks.'