New FinTech Foundation Programme for workers in the banking and financial services industry

1. 27 March 2019, Wednesday – Digitalisation and technological advancements have brought about challenges and opportunities to companies and workers across all industries. FinTech has been identified as a major disruptor to the banking and financial services sector as more companies leverage technology to make financial services more effective and efficient. Likewise, workers must tap on opportunities to learn new skills to take on new jobs and prepare themselves for digital transformation.

2. In response to ground feedback from workers that current FinTech courses are too technical and lengthy, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), Banking and Financial Services Union (BFSU), Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) and Ngee Ann Polytechnic have developed the new FinTech Foundation Programme. The 2.5-day course aims to help junior executives in the banking and financial services industry grasp key concepts of FinTech and gain a better understanding of how key technology trends will impact the sector and evolve the jobs they perform. The programme is also suitable for professionals keen on broadening their knowledge and pursuing a career in FinTech. The FinTech Foundation Programme was officially launched today by Mr Patrick Tay, Assistant Secretary-General of NTUC, who was Guest-of-Honour at the Fintech Talent Fair.

FinTech Foundation Programme

3. The FinTech Foundation Programme will introduce essential concepts of FinTech as well as emerging technology trends and the opportunities they present to the banking and financial services sector. Through hands-on classroom sessions and practitioner-led sharing, participants will learn about design thinking, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, as well as the skills needed to perform higher value-added financial services. Some 20 participants signed up for the pilot run of the programme, which kicked off its first session earlier today.

4. Course fees for the FinTech Foundation Programme are as follows:
   

   All prices inclusive of GST
   *Under the Enhanced Training Support for Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Scheme
   **Under the SkillsFuture Mid-career Enhanced Subsidy
   ***Under the Workfare Training Support Scheme
   Additionally, NTUC members will get to enjoy up to 50% unfunded course fee support under the Union Training Assistance Programme (UTAP)¹.
   For more information about the FinTech Foundation Programme, please visit ntuc.co/fintech-foundation.

5. Participants who have completed the FinTech Foundation Programme and are keen on acquiring more in-depth knowledge on the different key elements of FinTech may move on to the FinTech Fundamentals Programme (ntuc.co/fintech-fundamentals) and FinTech Deep Dive series which will cover topics like blockchain, big data and artificial intelligence (ntuc.co/fintech-deep-dive). Participants can look forward to module exemptions should they decide to progress.

Fintech Talent Fair

6. Organised by NTUC’s e2i(Employment and Employability Institute) and Singapore Fintech Association (SFA) on 27 March 2019, the Fintech Talent Fair aims to help job seekers and in-employment professionals explore new career opportunities in the FinTech industry. It incorporated a smart job matching platform for job seekers to search, pitch and engage with potential FinTech employers such as Bambu, ComplyAdvantage, DT One / Thunes, InstaReM, MoneyThor, OneConnect Financial, Prive Technologies, Spark Systems and more. The key hiring positions included software developers, business development managers and data scientists. The event was attended by about 100 job-seekers.

7. Mr Patrick Tay, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General, said: “The banking and financial services sector is experiencing widespread digital transformation, and PMEs in the industry must ensure they have the necessary knowledge and skills to stay relevant and competitive in this rapidly evolving landscape. We have received ground feedback that there is growing interest in FinTech, but workers are overwhelmed by how technical current courses are and the costs involved in undergoing such programmes. We hope the FinTech Foundation Programme will bridge this gap to provide workers at all levels with foundational knowledge about FinTech so that they can equip themselves with this new knowledge to operate in the new operating environment. It will also serve as a platform for those interested to segway into this exciting growth area. I urge all our local banks to partner with us to send their employees for this enriching programme.”

8. Mr Wee Soon Guan, General Secretary of Banking and Financial Services Union (BFSU), said: “Fintech is growing globally and in Singapore. With this, opportunities and new job roles are created. In order for our workers to remain relevant to the sector and not miss out on the growing opportunities, we encourage our members to sign up for the course as an entry to the Fintech world.”

9. Mr Clarence Ti, Principal of Ngee Ann Polytechnic, said: “As Singapore’s SkillsFuture sector coordinator in financial services, Ngee Ann Polytechnic has been actively seeking opportunities to collaborate with esteemed partners in developing FinTech courses and building the talent pipeline for the sector. We are excited to work with BFSU, NTUC and SFA on this FinTech Foundation Programme which will introduce PMEs to emerging technologies that are shaping the financial industry and enable them to keep pace with digital transformation.”

11. Mr Chia Hock Lai, president of Singapore FinTech Association, said: “As one of the leading FinTech hubs of the world, Singapore is uniquely placed to capture new opportunities arising from FinTech, including new job roles. The FinTech Foundation Programme will not only introduce workers to the world of FinTech but also plug them into the ecosystem, this is especially useful for workers who are keen to pursue a career in FinTech. Meanwhile, by co-organising the FinTech Job Fair with NTUC e2i, we are looking forward to enable more effective job-matching between job seekers and employers through the use of a smart analytics platform.”

12. Mr Gilbert Tan, CEO of NTUC’s e2i, said: “Singapore sits at the centre of this exciting ecosystem of innovation and growth where we see burgeoning FinTech start-ups, e-commerce platforms and digitalisation of traditional financial institutions. In the FinTech landscape, workers with the right mindset and relevant skills will be able to take advantage of the emerging job roles and opportunities. At the FinTech Talent Fair co-organised with Singapore FinTech Association, job seekers and employers can understand each other better by tapping on a smart analytics platform which enables direct discussion and appointments. e2i has been working with our partners to build up the talent capacity for the industry and will continue to create opportunities like this to support workers who wish to build a career in FinTech.”

¹ UTAP is a training benefit for NTUC members to defray their cost of training. This benefit is to encourage more NTUC members to go for skills upgrading. Unfunded course fee, capped at $250 per year, refers to the balance course fee payable after applicable government subsidy. This excludes GST, registration fees, misc. fees etc.