Banks in S’pore Claimed Bulk of Staff Still S’poreans After MAS Urged Them to Groom Local Talents

By
Boon Hun
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Here’s the latest trend in Singapore: Banks coming out to tell the world that most of their staff are Singaporeans.

On 12 Aug, it was Standard Chartered which came out to defend itself against allegations that they were hiring more foreigners than locals.

And now, it’s Singapore’s local banks who are coming forward with their numbers.

Banks in S’pore Claimed Bulk of Staff Still S’poreans 

DBS said that 90% of their workforce are Singaporeans or PRs. That’s 10,800 Singapore residents that they’re employing out of their 12,000-strong workforce.

It added that all Singapore-based group management committee members are Singaporeans and PRs.

The bank said they are committed to “to developing local employees across all levels, while ensuring a strong complement between our local and foreign talent”.

UBS also came forward with their own numbers, citing that 75% of their 3,000-strong workforce are Singaporeans or PRs.

It also emphasised that they have been nurturing financial leaders through UBS University as well as their latest UBS Super Programme, which helps to prepare graduates and mid-career workers to develop relevant financial skills.

HSBC said more than 85% of their workforce are Singaporeans or PRs, and 75% of their higher management are Singapore residents.

It added that there is a further 250 Singaporeans who are working overseas in senior positions.

At OCBC, 90% of their headcount are locals.

OCBC’s HR manager says the bank look at a candidate’s skills, experience and core values when deciding if he or she is the best fit for the role.

United Overseas Bank (UOB) didn’t reveal their numbers but said they are not planning to retrench anyone due to Covid-19.

Why The Sudden Move?

This all started with a surprise announcement by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on 5 Aug 2020.

The ministry said they’ve put 47 firms, which were suspected of discriminatory hiring practices against Singaporeans, on close watch.

These 47 companies, according to MOM, come from a variety of sectors and hired 2,000 foreign PMETs and over 2,800 local PMETs.

While the numbers look normal, they’re added to the watchlist anyway as their “workplace profiles” indicate that there might be discriminatory hiring going on.

30 of the 47 companies come from the financial and professional services sectors and they have a “high concentration” of PMETs from the same country.

With the financial and professional services sectors getting called out, the Monetary Association of Singapore (MAS) had to do something since they’re the regulatory authority in that area.

And they did.

Banks Should Grow And Groom A Local Pool

On 12 Aug 2020, MAS said that financial institutions in Singapore should “continue to identify Singaporeans with high leadership potential” and groom them to “expand the supply of talented locals”.

“We have to remain open and will continue to welcome global talent that complement our workforce. Employers must, however, hire in a responsible manner and commit to growing the local talent pool.”

MAS also added that within the industry, “most employers hire responsibly”.

They have a lot of complicated things to say about the situation, which you can read here, but based on what we understand, here’s the TL; DR:

Global talents are “short-term” solutions, meant to plug the holes while local talents are the “long-term” solutions which can help institutions build up in Singapore.

It was reported that about 60 financial institutions in Singapore have offered around 1,300 SGUnited Traineeship positions to fresh graduates.

Around 50 firms have pledged to hire 900 Singaporeans over the next three years to be groomed for future leadership or specialist roles.

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Boon Hun
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