Why SG investment banks are offering jobs to tech grads

LEGACY systems have plagued the banking and financial services industry (BFSI) for quite a while now, but that doesn’t mean they’re ignoring cutting-edge technologies altogether.

While entirely replacing core-banking systems might be a challenge, BFSI companies, especially in the investment banking space, are looking at employing tech graduates for a variety of jobs, including big data, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML).

Investment banks see the value that these technologies can bring to their research teams, how they can augment the studies and insights that their analysts create and the new products and solutions they can help offer to customers.

“We apply emerging technology across the whole lifecycle of client interaction – from pre-trade investment research, to algorithmic trading systems and post-trade settlements,” said Tancy Tan, Head of APAC Digital Operations at J.P. Morgan’s Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) told efinancialcareers.

In Singapore, J.P. Morgan’s workforce consists of more than 1,000 technology executives. “Singapore is home to our leading-edge high-value tech jobs. But not all these roles require coding skills. In my team, we want people who have a clear understanding of the powers of emerging technology and how they can be applied to help the bank and our clients,” explained Tan.

To scout for talent and educate tech grads of the opportunities in investment banking, Tan and her colleagues visit universities in Singapore often.

However, it seems as though Singapore needs more tech talent than it produces.

“Grappling with an aging population and a shortage of high-tech workers, Singapore needs to bring in foreign talent in areas including software programming while the country rebalances its education system to meet future demands,” Education Minister Ong Ye Kung said recently.

“Talent is very short everywhere in the world — AI talent, software programmers. We let them in because we require a critical mass for the sector to take off, while we continue to train Singaporeans for those jobs,” explained Ong.

With the rising demand for tech graduates across the world, organizations in Singapore need to offer a good salary, perks, and growth opportunities in order to woo candidates to the country — especially with its rising living costs.

Further, when it comes to investment banks and the BFSI sector, it’s critical that access to tech talent, whether by way of work visas or from local universities is not limited in any way if Singapore wants to remain the financial capital of the region.

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