The Singapore FinTech Association (SFA), in collaboration with Accenture, has recently launched the sixth edition of the Singapore Tech Talent Report 2024. The report highlighted how fintech companies and financial institutions (FIs) are navigating a new talent landscape amidst a volatile macroeconomic environment and a dampened market outlook for the tech sector.

It also addresses how the rising popularity of AI, specifically GenAI, significantly impacts the talent landscape in Singapore’s financial services industry.

According to the report, some key points to keep in mind:

GenAI is rapidly being adopted across the industry, transforming job functions and the skills required to thrive

According to SFA and Accenture, smaller, agile fintech companies lead the way in GenAI adoption. This rapid adoption redefines jobs and skills, with a shift towards behavioural and cross-functional skills becoming increasingly important.

A new talent profile is emerging: The “Techno-Functional Collaborator”

These professionals blend technical expertise with business acumen and strong interpersonal abilities. This profile is driven by the need to bridge the gap between technical solutions and business objectives, ensuring that AI solutions deliver practical value and meet ethical and compliance standards.

Also Read: Base Technology wants to revolutionise consumer engagement in SEA with its GenAI tool

Technical skills remain important, but behavioural and cross-functional skills are gaining prominence in a GenAI-driven world.

These skills include critical thinking, communication, AI literacy, data science, and adaptability. They are crucial for harnessing GenAI’s potential while ensuring the reliability and resilience of its application. Administrative tasks, on the other hand, are becoming increasingly automated, leading to a decline in their relevance.

There is a mismatch between what employees prioritise in an organisation and what financial institutions are currently focusing on

While employees value rewards and opportunities for growth and development, financial institutions prioritise flexible work arrangements and performance management. This disparity highlights the need to bridge the gap to attract and retain talent.

What fintech businesses can do to seize these opportunities

The sources offer several recommendations for businesses and government to address the impact of AI on the talent landscape in Singapore:

For businesses, what they can do:

Rethink the Employee Value Proposition (EVP) and listen to employees

Businesses must rethink their EVP to attract and retain technology talent in today’s competitive market.

In listening to their employees’ aspirations, businesses should utilise high-touch and low-touch methods, including tools such as Microsoft Teams Analytics and Chatbots, to gather real-time data on employee sentiment and engagement. This data-driven approach can provide insights into what employees truly value, enabling businesses to tailor their EVP accordingly.

Also Read: Half of Indonesia’s financial institutions plan to deploy GenAI for everyday tasks

Hyper-personalise the employee experience

Leading organisations go beyond traditional pulse checks and adjust their HR practices based on individual employee needs and aspirations. This includes focusing on the “signature moments” in the employee journey, such as onboarding, career growth, and well-being initiatives, to foster a positive and engaging work environment that enhances retention.

In addition to that, businesses should go beyond solely relying on the allure of startup culture or the promise of growth to attract and retain employees. Instead, they need to rethink the definition of what constitutes rewards by incorporating elements such as learning and development budgets, health benefits, flexible leave policies, and lifestyle discounts.

Unlock the skills passport and establish a skills taxonomy

Businesses must enhance internal talent development to keep up with the evolving skills landscape. They need to evaluate existing skillsets, identify skill gaps, and create a skills passport for their employees.

This passport will not only serve as a baseline for HR practices such as learning, recruiting, and job mapping but will also empower employees to take ownership of their career development.

Prioritise behavioural and cross-functional skills

While GenAI holds significant potential, organisations must enhance their human-centric training to ensure ethical and safe AI application within the organisation. This includes focusing on AI Literacy, Risk Management and Responsible AI, as well as critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Learning should not be confined to just formal classroom learning but expanded to include mediums for practical application of skills such as hackathons, communities of practice and peer mentoring. The concept of “work-learn fusion” emphasises integrating learning into the flow of daily work and projects to enable employees to continuously develop new skills through practical and hands-on experience.

Also Read: Half of Indonesia’s financial institutions plan to deploy GenAI for everyday tasks

Make risk everyone’s business, but build enterprise risk literacy

As GenAI becomes integrated into operations, risk responsibility must be a shared responsibility across the enterprise.

Given that most employees will be exposed to AI risk in some form, businesses need to enhance general risk literacy and bolster their second and third line of defence skills, including risk identification, risk mitigation, and ethical AI conduct.

A strong risk culture prioritises not only governance frameworks and processes but also fosters cross-functional collaboration, encouraging risk management practices and accountability in AI-related topics. This forward-thinking mindset, where business resilience and growth continuously learn and adapt, is key to navigating the evolving risk landscape.

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