THE Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will be setting aside S$35 million over the next three years to support the development of sustainable finance talent in the city-state’s financial sector.
This money will be channeled towards the financial sector development fund, which will partly be used to support the expansion of sustainable finance courses accredited by the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF), as well as capacity-building efforts at universities.
In addition, MAS and IBF developed a report that charts out how the financial sector will be impacted by sustainability trends amid the global push towards addressing the climate crisis, as well as the emerging skills that the sector will need to meet growing sustainable financing demands in the region.
The report – conducted by KPMG – found that between 4,000 and 5,000 jobs related to sustainable finance are expected to be created in Singapore over the next 10 years.
A number of these jobs will come from financial institutions in the banking, asset management and insurance sectors. They have to ramp up resources in existing job roles that will likely see moderate to high-degree changes, as new tasks relating to sustainable finance are added to these existing roles.
The report estimated that more than half of the existing job roles in the sector, amounting to over 50,000 professionals currently, will undergo this change within the next three years. These roles span various functions, from risk management to product solutions.
Out of these, the report highlighted 20 job roles that should be prioritised for upskilling. These include relationship managers in corporate banking and portfolio managers.
A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU
ESG Insights
An exclusive weekly report on the latest environmental, social and governance issues.
There will also be jobs created pertaining to sustainability risk and strategy to provide specialised technical knowledge and expertise. These roles will become more prevalent as financial institutions increasingly prioritise sustainability as a core business strategy for their organisations, according to the report.
Greater sustainable financing needs
The demand for these new jobs comes from growing sustainable financing needs in South-east Asia.
The region is projected to require between S$4 trillion and S$5 trillion in sustainable financing over the next 10 years, as governments undertake major structural programmes to reduce carbon emissions and meet net-zero targets.
This transition to a low-carbon economy cuts across various sectors, such as energy, construction, real estate, transport, manufacturing and agriculture.
“The potential for Singapore to capture greater market share of Asean’s sustainable financing demand, particularly in areas such as carbon markets, blended finance and financing for transition activities, gives further upside to the estimated job growth,” stated the report.
Announcing these initiatives on Wednesday (Apr 17) at the sidelines of the Ecosperity sustainability conference, MAS board member Alvin Tan said all stakeholders need to work together to equip Singapore’s workforce with sustainable finance capabilities.
“Most critically, we need financial institutions to invest in continuously upskilling their staff as organisational needs,” said Tan, who is also Minister of State for Trade and Industry.
To meet this skills shortage, IBF will be rolling out a industry benchmark that accords recognition to individuals who have acquired relevant sustainable finance skills.
The universities will also be developing two undergraduate programmes on sustainable finance, while training providers will launch 65 courses this year.
