Opening Remarks by Mr Heng Swee Keat, Managing Director, Monetary Authority of Singapore and Chairman, Institute of Banking and Finance at IBF’s Distinguished Speaker Event, 29 Oct 2007, Ritz Carlton

Our honoured guest, Sir Brian Pitman,
Members of the IBF Council,
CEOs of our member institutions,
Friends and colleagues.

1. I bid you a warm welcome to IBF’s Inaugural Distinguished Speaker Event. IBF is honoured to have the company of a prominent group of our industry captains at this event, entitled “A Journey of Learning”.

2. I am also especially gratified to have Sir Brian Pitman, a luminary in the world of finance and corporate strategy, as our first speaker to launch the Distinguished Speaker Series. Sir Brian is a good friend of MAS – he served as a member of our International Advisory Panel from 1999-2000. Sir Brian’s CV is before you, and I am sure he needs no further introduction. In a world of shortening CEO tenures, Sir Brian’s 18 years at the helm of Lloyd’s Bank TSB speak volumes of his commitment, tenacity and success. Despite a well-earned retirement after a lifetime of achievements, Sir Brian continues to contribute his insight, experience and wisdom to our corporate sector through active board contributions. I would like thank Sir Brian for honouring us with your presence today, and for agreeing to share your insights and personal learning journey. We will have a lot to learn from him.

3. Today’s Distinguished Speaker event marks an important milestone in IBF’s own journey. This Speaker series aims to bring together prominent leaders in the world of banking and financial services to share with us their insights and learning. Through this and other platforms, I hope to see IBF fostering dialogue among leaders and professionals in our industry on strategic issues, especially those relating to building human capital and talent.

4. All of us in this room are currently pre-occupied with the shortage of talent in our industry. Indeed, the term ‘war for talent’ is now widely used. In the sense of intensifying competition, this is accurate. However, it is also an inadequate metaphor. War is a negative sum game – it inflicts severe damage and suffering, and even as victors enjoy triumph in the short-term, wars eventually hurt them. There are no real winners. In the industry context, an aggressive bidding for talent, for example, while driving short-term growth for the successful firm, could drive costs up so rapidly that it eventually hurt profitability for that firm, and for the industry.

5. A better analogy is competition in sports, where within clear rules of fair play, we push the limit of human development and team cooperation. Certainly firms should continue to compete for talent – that competition sharpens our ability to inspire and develop our staff.
But competition alone is not enough. In many areas, our long-term interests are better served by collective action, to solve the overall shortage in the industry, and to build deep capabilities.

6. The recent and on-going credit crunch offers a vivid illustration of the value of collective action. In periods of rapid innovation, it is important that risk management practices are able to keep pace. Smart action by an individual firm does not prevent a system-wide crunch, which spreads to even firms with good risk management practices. It is not just how good you are, but how adequate everyone else is too.

7. Regardless of whether the current situation will evolve into something more serious affecting the global economy, I believe there are already many important areas where central banks, regulators and the industry need to work collectively to improve systemic stability. While not much has been said yet on talent development, a basic building block of any change is the upgrading of professional expertise. Structurally, globalization, technological advancements and innovation will continue. Financial markets will become more sophisticated and interlinked. We must therefore continue to invest in developing talent and in building new capabilities.

8. There is therefore much scope for individual as well as broader cooperative action. Collectively, we need to attract more suitable candidates to join the industry. I am glad that several financial institutions have joined MAS in talent roadshows here in Singapore, as well as abroad. The responses of graduating students and working professionals this year have been even better than last year’s, when we first started.

9. Our industry leaders have also come together to develop the financial industry competency standards, or FICS. Many more firms are now adopting FICS, and investing resources to train a wider group of officers. Today, we reach another high point in appointing 11 FICS certified professionals.

10. Our capacity for collective action has produced impressive results. Over the years, government, industry and individuals have consistently invested in education and upgrading. We have done well to provide the right conditions for international talent to enter and settle in Singapore. Our achievements in talent attraction and development are widely recognised – Singapore has emerged tops in separate rankings of labour market competitiveness by the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY), Business Environment Risk Intelligences (BERI) and Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd (PERC). WCY in their 2007 report for the Asia Pacific, ranked Singapore first in terms of “International experience of senior managers”, “Competent senior managers availability” and “Finance skills availability”. These rankings, as well as the enhanced competitiveness of our industry, reflect the fruits of our collective labour.

11. While Government and the industry can provide the opportunities for training, ultimately, it is the individual who learns. It is the commitment of the individual towards his or own learning that makes the difference. One frustrated colleague in the industry told me how he had provided some reading materials for a young colleague to read over the weekend. The young man asked, in not so many words, why he should learn for the company. The young man missed the point – he is not learning for the company, but for himself. No one can take away his learning. Thankfully, this is an isolated incident, but it serves as a useful reminder that we need to continue to inculcate the right value towards learning, and to have many more role models.

12. Eleven senior leaders in our industry will receive certification today for the highest job roles under the Financial Industry Competency Standards. Their achievement exemplifies commitment to life-life learning, to reach the top of the profession. I congratulate our inaugural group of Financial Industry Certified Professionals, who serve as role models for our aspiring finance professionals.

13. It is my hope that many more young professionals, through industry and commitment, will strive to achieve the professional excellence that will take them to the pinnacle of the financial industry, and emerge as leaders of tomorrow. And I urge our financial institutions, represented by leaders here today, to provide the systems and support for them to do so. Finally, I wish to thank the 5 FICS lead providers, who have heartily supported IBF’s efforts by going to great lengths to ensure that our 11 FICPs underwent the stringent assessment process demanded under the FICS framework.

14. I am very excited, just as you are, to hear Sir Brian’s insights on the challenges relating to the business and talent development in the financial industry, as well as the learning journeys of our eleven FICPs. On that note, I wish all of you a fruitful session and an enjoyable lunch.

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