Finance professionals will be able to upgrade their skills and remain relevant to the industry under a framework launched yesterday.
Education Minister Ong Ye Kung has urged financial institutions to use the skills framework to develop their staff even as the Government rolls out initiatives to develop talent.
Mr Ong told the Institute of Banking and Finance Singapore's (IBF) annual gala dinner yesterday that it was erroneous to think there would be a huge shake-out and massive replacement of workers in the sector.
"Despite technological advancement, the basic functioning of the industry still depends predominantly on traditional professional and technical skills, institutional knowledge and customer relationships," he said. "What has changed is that all workers performing these tasks need to now familiarise themselves with technology."
Mr Ong, who is also on the board of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), said this did not mean workers needed to unlearn and re-learn skills to stay relevant. But it was imperative for workers in all industries, including in finance, to augment and adapt, he said.
United Overseas Bank will be integrating the new skills framework into its in-house programme, so that its staff can better identify the skills they need to get ahead in their career, Mr Ong said.
Finance professionals should also familiarise themselves with technology, he added.
The IBF as well as the MAS, SkillsFuture Singapore and Workforce Singapore developed the framework, which aims to help finance professionals identify the skills they need.
For example, an economist whose job includes company and industry research for investment will need skills such as business needs analysis, computational thinking and strategy planning. He can then take courses recommended by the IBF to ensure his skills meet the required levels for his job and are up to date.
A report released in April found that about 100 out of 121 positions in the finance sector would be merged or changed because technology would render their repetitive tasks obsolete.
The IBF presented awards at the gala dinner to industry veterans for their contributions to the sector.
OCBC Bank's consumer financial services head Dennis Tan was one of five recipients of the IBF Distinguished Fellow Award. He leads the bank's consumer banking professional conversion programme, which aims to reskill 800 employees working as tellers, customer service managers and contact centre service executives over three years.
He said he has been keeping up with the latest in financial technology, such as for QR code cash withdrawals and online applications for credit cards. "It's not easy, but my hope is for more and more of our staff, across all ranks and job functions... to make sure we keep up to date of the latest developments."
