Singapore

The recent global financial crisis hammered home a painful but clear reminder that risk is pervasive, and can have far-reaching consequences.

The financial services industry has seen a resurgence in hiring activity as the Asian economic outlook has shown signs of improvement since September 2009. While this trend relates to all areas of financial services, there has been particularly strong jobs growth across the following business functions: Risk management remains crucial Post the global credit crunch, risk management has clearly become a critical function in the industry. This has driven banks to start thinking more about risk: whether it is market risk, credit risk or operational risk. Consequently, we have seen a surge in demand for people with expertise in these specific areas. Singapore emerges as an operations hub Singapore is fast emerging as an operations hub for the region with a number of international banks moving their operations and technology teams to the region over the last year. This has created to a strong demand for experienced staff within operations, especially those who have control or project management exposure. Compliance and control remains important While banking industry starts to grow again, there continues to be a strong emphasis on compliance, internal audit and control related functions. These positions are needed to help organisations stand up to closer scrutiny, as the industry looks to new performance indicators to assess an institution’s success. There is stronger M&A activity in the region With the increasing attractiveness of Asia as an investment destination, we have seen an increase in the hiring of corporate finance profiles as banks revalue their investment opportunities and actively look at potential investments in the region. A boom in Product control There are strong opportunities for qualified accountants within the product control function as banks are paying a lot more attention to the control mechanisms underpinning their activities. Private banking is coming to the forefront Already the world's second largest private-banking center, private banking in Singapore continues to grow, as tough secrecy laws and favorable taxes attract big accounts throughout Asia, hence creating opportunities across a number of areas in private banking.  

Financial Institutions should take note of the changing environment in payments. The payments ecosystem is transforming itself into something many have not yet fully grasped. It is the industry that many have yet to look at within their strategic radar.

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Fitch's affirmation of DBS and OCBC's stability status reflects the banks' strong credit profiles.

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Pocket Me GIRO intends rewarding customers when they GIRO with the lender.

Appointee leads regional team reinforcing commitment to expand Global Payments and Cash Management in South Asia.

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Forum to provide update on technical advances of the EMV standard and future developments.

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