There are currently more than 600 local and foreign financial institutions in Singapore. Their services include:

Home to more than 600 multinational financial institutions, the financial services industry accounted for more than 12% of Singapore’s GDP in 2007. As a thriving international financial centre serving not just the region but also global clients, Singapore’s financial sector grew by a phenomenal 16.9% in 2007. The industry is growing in many diversified areas, ranging from wealth and asset management to equity, bond, foreign exchange and derivative markets to reinsurance and captive insurance.

Employing 5% of the total labour force, the high value-add finance industry has many exciting career opportunities for entry-level and experienced professionals. With the relocation of several multinational financial institutions’ regional and global operations to Singapore, hiring for the sector has stepped up. Many companies with existing operations in Singapore have also increased their headcount as a result of the continued resilience of the Asian economies.

Singapore is an important global wealth management and fund management centre. The assets under management have grown by 20-30% annually in the past five years. Political stability and robust regulatory frameworks have made Singapore the preferred private banking destination for high networth individuals not just from Asia, but also Europe and the Americas looking to invest in Asia’s growth. Forward-looking regulations have helped in the growth of new market segments such as Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Islamic Banking.

As the largest trading centre for emerging-market currencies in Asia, Singapore serves as the base for many regional foreign exchange desks of leading international banks. As one of the world’s fastest growing domestic bond markets, many foreign issuers look to Singapore as an alternative fund-raising centre. With 12% of global Over-the-Counter (OTC) commodity derivatives traded, Singapore has established itself as the price-making centre in Asia for energy and rubber derivative contracts.

International insurers, reinsurers and intermediaries providing a full range of insurance services are located in Singapore. Numerous reinsurers and captive insurers use Singapore as a base to operate in the region, with offshore insurance business accounting for more than half of the total general insurance business underwritten.

A number of multinational financial institutions have set up regional and global middle- and back-office operations in Singapore. Professionals from other industries with experience in operations and infocomm technology (ICT) are also in great demand to fill these positions.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) set up a Financial Sector Development Fund (FSDF) in 2001 to support continuous learning and upgrading of the financial sector workforce. Key players from the financial services industry, MAS, Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) collaborated and implemented a Financial Industry Competency Standards (FICS) framework in 2005, to raise the professional bar of the financial sector workforce and training providers. IBF also partners training providers to address the training needs of the sector in the Financial Network for Excellence in Training (f-NExT).

Find out more about opportunities in the banking and finance industry at MAS