Date: For Parliament Sitting on 10 March 2025

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Yip Hon Weng, MP, Yio Chu Kang SMC

Question

To ask the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance in light of the current talent shortage in Singapore's financial sector (a) how does the Ministry ensure that efforts to attract foreign talent are balanced with the development and progression of the local workforce in the financial sector; (b) what measures are in place to maintain such balance in this sector; and (c) how does the Ministry monitor their effectiveness.

Answer by Mr Alvin Tan, Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, and Board member of MAS, on behalf of Mr Gan Kim Yong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry, and Chairman of MAS:

1. MAS is committed to developing our financial sector’s local workforce while being open to complementary foreign manpower. Working closely with industry, we invest heavily in building skills and capabilities in our local workforce, to enable our locals to take up good jobs in the financial sector. As a leading regional and global financial centre, Singapore must continue to attract high quality talent, both locally and from abroad, in order to stay competitive.

2. This balanced approach has been key to Singapore’s success as a global financial centre. We are now a leading financial centre in Asia and the third most competitive globallyBased on the 2024 Global Financial Centre Index .. We are home to over 2,500 licensed financial institutions and employ close to 200,000 people. Over 80% of our financial sectorFinancial sector refers to Financial & Insurance Services (SSIC2020 K64-66) excluding holding companies. workforce is local, and the sector offers the highest median gross income amongst employed locals. Over 2018 to 2023, the financial sector workforce grew by more than 25,000, of which more than 9 out of 10 of the net jobs created went to locals. 

3. To help locals acquire skills and capabilities to take on good jobs in the financial sector, MAS has committed $400 million from 2021 to 2025 to support the training of local finance professionals at each stage of their careers. 

a) At pre-entry and entry levels, MAS provides funding support for internships, apprenticeships, and job rotation programmes, to equip our polytechnic and university students and fresh graduates with the skills to take on jobs in our financial sector.

b) At mid-career level, MAS provides opportunities for finance professionals to upskill and reskill. We work with training providers to develop relevant courses, subsidise course fees and develop career conversion programmes with financial institutions for our mid-careers.

c) At the senior-level, MAS supports the development of senior leaders through overseas postings, leadership programmes and by building leadership networks. 

4. Financial institutions also recognise the importance of developing local talent to meet their manpower needs. For instance, in 2024, OCBC launched OCBC Ignite, an accelerated career programme that comprises an internship and apprenticeship on full time employment with the bank. OCBC Ignite aims to benefit 500 polytechnic students and graduates over three years. UBS also partnered government to develop the UBS-SUPER programme in 2020, and has trained over 400 fresh graduates and mid-career professionals. UBS has also doubled the number of Singaporeans sent on overseas postings, compared to pre-COVID levels.  

5. To balance the need to develop the local workforce with the importance of attracting high quality global talent, MAS closely monitors the overall workforce profile of our financial sector as well as the workforce composition of key financial institutions. MAS regularly engages senior management of key financial institutions on their workforce needs and composition, and on how MAS can work with them to develop local talent. MOM’s Complementarity Assessment Framework (COMPASS) for Employment Pass applications encourages firms to support local employment by awarding points based on locals’ share of PMET roles in the firm. COMPASS also recognises and gives additional weight to global talent who bring in skills in shortage, while the Overseas Networks & Expertise Pass (ONE Pass) attracts and anchors top global talent from around the world.

6. We will continue to strike a delicate balance – ensuring our financial institutions have access to high quality foreign talent, while steadfastly developing our local talent pipeline. By maintaining this balance, we will attract more investments and provide good jobs, career choices and progression opportunities for our locals.

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