Singapore banks rev up tech hiring to plug digital vacancies

A fifth of job postings are for employees with digital skills.

Banks in Singapore are seeking out more technology professionals as it faces off against Hong Kong to be Asia’s most important financial hub, with 20% of job postings calling for digitally-driven employees, according to JobTech Online’s Jobs Census.

The census highlighted how J.P. Morgan posted 640 technology jobs in Singapore, compared to the 170 posted in Hong Kong. Similarly, DBS post up 630 technology jobs in the Lion City versus 50 in Hong Kong.

“Given that these banks have a significant presence in Hong Kong, it could suggest that they are basing most of their digitalisation efforts in Singapore,” the firm noted.

Also read: Singapore banks embark on hiring spree in fight against dirty money

Business intelligence, data analytics, and application engineering professionals were the most sought after amongst the top hiring banks in Singapore and Hong Kong in 2018. The census noted how OCBC’s technological domains placed a stronger focus on information security, whilst JP Morgan reportedly placed a deeper focus on application engineering.

“This is in line with banks’ digital transformation initiatives and their push for analytics,” the firm said in a statement. “The hiring trend for business intelligence and data analytics positions is consistent across many of the large banks in recent years.”

In 2016-2017, the number of jobs in the fintech and financial sevices sector grew by 7,800 as insurers and fund managers beefed up their teams.