Singapore finance employers pledge 300 places for trainees and interns from polytechnics

SINGAPORE – Financial services firms are stepping up efforts to entice aspiring professionals to enter the industry straight from polytechnic.

There will be 300 or so traineeship and internship places over the next two years on offer from 10 firms that have tied up with the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) here, in an effort to secure a broader talent pool and provide more pathways.

These firms, and others, also took part in a July 9 career fair at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, dubbed the Financial Industry Fiesta 2025, in a bid to attract around 800 poly students.

The fiesta was jointly held by IBF, 12 financial services companies and all five local polytechnics, as well as the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and the Singapore University of Social Sciences.

The event featured the career pathways in finance for graduates, aside from enrolling in full-time university studies.

Students could register to join tours at eight financial institutions, including a scavenger hunt at local bank UOB’s Better U training campus in Bukit Timah.

UOB inked a pact at the career fair with IBF and the three universities to create new work-study initiatives and to enhance existing ones, for more flexible and accelerated learning pathways.

The bank will also explore recognising workplace training, including those accredited by IBF.

Local banks DBS and OCBC, asset manager Amundi and global bank JP Morgan are among the other companies, aside from UOB, that have pledged places for poly students.

Students at the career fair put questions to Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan about the finance sector’s prospects, while poly alumni now working in finance talked about their own experiences.

Mr Tan, who is also Minister of State for National Development and a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, drew on his own background and those of the alumni to outline opportunities for young people in finance.

He later told reporters that the outlook for Singapore’s financial sector remains optimistic, as its underlying pillars, such as a steady political environment and predictable regulations, are still in place.

This is why financial institutions here are stepping forward to provide training opportunities, even amid a wider global pullback in investments, Mr Tan added.

“Even after we get past this period of uncertainty, it gives our people the skill sets and the work experience to take on longer-term roles and also more exciting roles that are to come in the evolution of the financial sector,” he noted.

The dialogue also included polytechnic graduate Maggie Tan, 32, a product portfolio operations manager for the Asia-Pacific at JP Morgan who was recently promoted to the job grade of vice-president.

Ms Tan, who was one of the apprentices in the firm’s pioneer batch here in 2015, studied at ITE College Central and Singapore Polytechnic.

She told The Straits Times that she initially sought to apply for full-time university studies after completing the one-year JP Morgan programme, but decided to take up its full-time job offer, and has now clocked up 10 years at the firm.

“The opportunity to branch out, to meet more people, and to collaborate – that... made me want to stay in JP Morgan.”

She noted that apprentices were given opportunities to shape their own experience, such as arranging dialogues with leaders at the firm.

JP Morgan’s apprenticeship programme – now entering its 11th year – has trained about 150 people, with more joining in August.

More departments in the company are now open to apprentices than ever before, including in the front office.

Final-year Ngee Ann Polytechnic student Leo Kai Zhi, 19, is an aspiring finance professional who attended the fair to get a better idea of what employers are looking for.

While he is open to applying for traineeship and apprenticeship programmes as a poly graduate instead of going to university, Mr Leo said he is concerned about losing out on internship opportunities offered to undergraduates.