$35m set aside to help those in finance sector pick up new green skills

20 roles flagged as high priority for upskilling, as S’pore seeks to be sustainable finance hub

- Cheryl Tan

As Singapore looks to become a green finance hub, the Government is pumping in $35 million to help those in the financial services sector pick up new skills to better serve sustainable financing demands in the region.

More than 50,000 people in jobs from sales to risk, compliance and legal, will have new sustainable finance-related job tasks added to their critical work functions, from a "moderate to high degree", according to a study commissioned by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Institute of Banking and Finance Singapore (IBF).

This comes as the sustainable finance market in Asean is expected to amount to $4 trillion to $5 trillion in the next decade, with financial institutions playing a key role in helping to catalyse the transformation needed.

The largest demand drivers behind the region's sustainable financing needs are the energy, and construction and real estate sectors, such as deploying renewable energy, electricity distribution and the greening of commercial buildings.

Speaking at the launch of the Sustainable Finance Jobs Transformation Map at the Ecosperity conference on April 17, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan said: "If Singapore is to be Asia's leading sustainable finance hub, we must equip our workforce to be ahead of complex and fast-evolving sustainable finance-related issues and opportunities."

Therefore, Singapore's financial services sector workforce should aim to acquire new skills within the next three years to seize these available opportunities, MAS, IBF and Workforce Singapore said on April 17.