SINGAPORE – A blend of hard and soft skills will become more important as hiring slows for fintech jobs, said various speakers at the Singapore FinTech Festival.
Financial institutions are taking a cautious approach to recruiting, with 57 per cent pointing to a hiring freeze or forecasting a decrease in headcounts for tech workers, noted a report on Nov 7, while just 22 per cent expect to take on more staff.
Fintech firms seemed slightly more optimistic – 27 per cent said they are looking to increase their tech headcount, compared with 13 per cent of banks and asset managers, noted the report by the Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) and Accenture.
Financial players are adopting flexible workforce models and continuing to outsource non-essential capabilities while also developing talent internally for long-term strategic roles, it found.
Mr Nesan Govender, Accenture’s talent and organisation lead for South-east Asia, said artificial intelligence has made the workforce more efficient, disrupting key financial services roles such as test engineers and data analysts.
Take generative AI. SFA and Accenture noted that 94 per cent of banks and asset managers and 73 per cent of fintechs are exploring or have implemented gen AI in areas such as sales and marketing, as well as data processing and management.
The report involved a market-wide survey, interviews with key industry leaders and other research. Most companies said that code generation and summarisation are the top tasks that will be automated.
Building a career in fintech takes more than just having tech-related skills.
Mr Govender said there is growing demand for the “techno-functional connector” – individuals with strong technical AI skills, as well as critical thinking, creativity and leadership abilities.
“If you understand how technology operates, and you understand how people behave, together,
