Tech giants and fintechs are snapping up the brightest of the digital workforce luring them away from banking careers. Is there a staffing crisis ahead for banks?
A decade on from the global financial crisis banks are beginning to lose the fight for digital talent as increased competition from technology behemoths such as Amazon, Apple, Tencent and Alibaba begins to bite.
The plethora of innovative fintech firms sprouting up across the region also sucks in tech personnel meaning banks are facing workforce risks that could challenge their ability to upgrade and meet the demands of digitization and increased compliance burdens.
Automation or Collaboration
Eighty-five percent of banks globally cite implementation of a digital transformation program as a business priority for 2018, according to the EY Global Banking Outlook 2018. The report surveyed senior executives at 221 banking institutions across Asia (including 9 in Singapore), Europe, North America and emerging markets.
Globally, addressing cyber-security is the top priority for banks (89 percent) in 2018, an issue also highlighted by all respondents in Singapore. One obvious solution could be the further automation of operational tasks.
In its report, EY predicts greater collaboration between Asia-Pacific banks and e-commerce or other technology platform players, particularly as open banking reforms progress in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore.
