Asian Financial Leaders Scheme (AFLS)

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Asian Financial Leaders Scheme (AFLS)

Overview

What is the Asian Financial Leaders Scheme?

The Asian Financial Leaders Scheme (AFLS) is a leadership development initiative supported by the Financial Sector Development Fund (FSDF), which was set up to facilitate the development of talent for Singapore’s financial centre. Through co-funding for Singaporeans, AFLS seeks to encourage the financial industry to develop its pool of future leaders, by sending them on eligible leadership programmes that would provide the knowledge to navigate the diverse business, regulatory, and legal environment in the region.

Under AFLS, the FSDF will co-fund qualifying costs incurred by Financial Institutions (FIs)[1] that send their promising C-1/C-2 Singaporean finance professionals to the Asian Financial Leaders Programme (AFLP) by Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI) and Singapore Management University (SMU).

Eligibility

Eligible claimants: Claimants should be FIs, based locally (in Singapore) or overseas, who are keen to sponsor promising incumbent staffs as future leaders.
Eligible participants: Promising incumbent staffs whom the sponsoring entities are keen to groom as future leaders. Only Singapore citizens will be supported.

Funding Support

Details of the funding support are as follows:

Completion date	Between 1 July 2018 and 30 June 2023	Between 1 July 2023 and 31 December 2024	Between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025
Funding level of qualifying costs	75% of AFLP programme fees (exclude airfare, accommodation, absentee payroll, and allowances) for eligible participants.	75% of AFLP programme fees (exclude airfare, accommodation, absentee payroll and allowances) for eligible participants.	50% of AFLP programme fees (exclude airfare, accommodation, absentee payroll and allowances) for eligible participants.
Funding cap	S$50,000 per participant	S$35,000 per participant	S$25,000 per participant

Claims Process

Subject to the fulfilment of all eligibility criteria, funding for approved claims will be disbursed on a reimbursement basis, after the participant’s successful completion of the programme and upon verification of the invoice issued by the programme provider.

There are 2 claim cycles per calendar year. Each sponsoring FI should submit one claim form for all eligible programme participants per qualifying period. Claims are to be compiled and submitted based on the timelines below:

Claim cycle	Qualifying period	Submission period
1	Programmes completed from January to June	July to September of the same calendar year
2	Programmes completed from July to December	January to March of the next calendar year

Each claim submission should be accompanied by relevant supporting documents:

Claim form duly completed and signed by the Head of Human Resources and Head of Internal Audit (or Head of Compliance in the absence of Internal Audit Department);
Invoice issued by the programme provider; and
Certificate of completion.

For payments in foreign currencies, exchange conversion will be computed based on IBF’s internal reference rate.

How to Apply

To find out more about the claims process, or to receive the prescribed forms, please contact us.