Singapore banks champion employee well-being, upskilling

Singapore Business Review’s new ranking of Singapore banks reflects top notchers' steady growth and adaptability to changing landscape.

Banks in the Lion City have continued to grow for the fiscal year 2022, garnering a 3.4% year-on-year (YoY) increase in headcount based on the Singapore Business Review’s annual bank rankings.

The bank rankings, which reflect the employment hiring situation of select banks in Singapore, had a change in methodology. Banks in the list have been categorised according to percent changes from the previous year’s tallied figures.

This method facilitated a sounder way of ranking them despite the difference in their respective employee populations.

With the new ranking process in place, Credit Agricole CIB. registered the highest annual increment of 20.3% YoY to 1,686 employees, taking the top spot in terms of employee growth. 

The 2023 ranking had HSBC Banking Corp. at No. 2 with a growth rate of 20.0% to increased employment of 3,890, followed by United Overseas Bank (UOB) at No. 3 with an increment of 11.7% to 10,056 employees. Trailing them at No. 4 was Maybank Singapore with a 5.1% growth and 2,101 employees.

Bucking the growth trend, banks which saw big dips were UCO Bank (11.9% to 37), State Bank of India (5.6% to 117), and DBS Bank (4.6% to 12,000).

In terms of tally count, the top five banks in order would have started with OCBC, DBS Bank, UOB, Citi Singapore, and Standard Chartered.

However, in the case of Citi Singapore and Standard Chartered, Singapore Business Review did not receive any response in press time.

Notably, in a report by Bloomberg made last 8 June, Standard Chartered is implementing targeted job cuts in Singapore, Hong Kong, and London as part of its cost reduction strategy, aiming to save about $1.35b by 2024.