BANK RANKINGS: SINGAPORE

the COVID-19 on people’s lives. Noting the opportunities they have opened for employees to access mental health support, Fye said, “We also try to train a group of Maybank bankers... to respond and advise them.” Over the past few years, Maybank has had over 10 employees across various departments trained to counsel staff with privacy afforded utmost value and respect. “Of course, we want to know if we can help. But sometimes the staff doesn’t want to talk, and we respect the privacy of others if they choose not to,” said Fye.

Working environment

According to these Singapore bank employers, there has been a higher demand for jobs within the environmental, social and governance (ESG) landscape as well as the technology sector.

UOB’s Tong observed that roles in technology, anti-money laundering (AML) compliance, sales, services and operations saw greater attraction for applicants.

“We are making sure our employees are equipped with future-ready skills, too. This can be seen through the various programmes that we have implemented such as our groupwide flagship training programme, BetterU, to invest in upskilling and reskilling our people,” Tong said.

UOB also began its Group Technology and Operations

Academy last year which upskills and certifies their estimated 6,000 technology and operations workforce in areas such as cybersecurity, software and infrastructure, Tong said.

On the other hand, Crédit Agricole CIB’s Wu said that more job opportunities in ESG for the banking sector signal the greater push toward carbon neutrality. Notably, the French international bank said it hired its very first Singapore-located sustainable banking teammate in 2022.

“As we see a growing importance and need in this area, we envision that this could be the start of a growing sustainable banking team in Singapore, enabling us to better support our clients with their sustainable finance strategy in line with our bank’s leadership as a pioneer in sustainable finance and our group’s targets to accelerate the transition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050,” Wu said.

Mukul Anand, head of human resources at HSBC Singapore, said the bank is committed to boosting the skills of young talents in Singapore. Its Global Graduate programme participants in Singapore surged 35% in 2023, whilst university and polytechnic work placement programmes also jumped 33%.

“Our people are our greatest asset and we are committed to helping them develop skills for the future,” said Anand.