Although Singapore banks' innovation labs find it easy to attract talent generally, retaining them can be a challenge due to clash of cultures says recruitment firms.
Despite attractive workplaces offered at innovation labs strewn across different parts of Singapore's finance sector, many bank labs are finding it hard to retain technology talents due to different cultures and expectations. Global banks such as Citi and Standard Chartered, local banks, insurers or payment companies all have labs that are increasing headcount, according to recruitment firms. However, retaining those who are already on board is another matter, insiders say.
«Some engineers at labs don’t think banks are fast enough to implement their ideas, so they leave. Banking is still a heavily regulated industry with its own bureaucracy,» says a former programmer with knowledge of several labs quoted in «efinnacial careers». «And there are sometimes disagreements with lab heads who’ve come from a traditional banking background.»
Relevant Technologies?
Secondly, while developers aim for leading-edge technologies within labs, the projects they are assigned to, may not be always be business critical. For example, DBS has developed AI for job candidate screening via its lab. «A lot of partnerships between banks and fintechs are for consumer research and marketing campaigns. But for, say, a trading platform, banks will typically still do this with their veteran in-house developer teams,» the ex-programmer says.
The most popular job vacancies at innovation labs include data engineers, mobile developers and full-stack developers with web experience. One other problem for such talents at these labs could be internal rivalry or duplication of efforts, whereby the tech teams at banks are themselves working on increasingly innovative projects, noted April Jimenez, a senior consultant at recruitment firm Huxley in Singapore.
«Instead of incubating ideas externally via a lab, these teams are sometimes doing it themselves. The challenge when it comes to labs is how to keep them relevant,» she said.
