KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia needs to develop a Future Skills Framework (FSF) for the financial sector, which would serve as a single point of reference on future skills and career development pathways for those working or aspiring to work in financial services.
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) deputy governor Jessica Chew said that in the long run, the FSF should foster a culture of lifelong learning and skills development within the financial sector workforce.
"Financial institutions will have a key role to play in realising the vision for the FSF by helping shape the framework into something that will be beneficial and relevant to institutions and individuals in the financial sector.
"By supporting the reskilling and upskilling of individuals whose roles may be at risk of displacement, the FSF also serves as a risk management strategy for financial institutions that are already facing growing legal and reputational challenges associated with redundancies,” she said in a keynote address at the 24th World Conference of Banking Institutes (WCBI) today.
In line with the conference theme of ‘Building a workforce fit for the future’, Chew said two things must be remembered; first, the future of work is not one that we can predict with precision.
"Secondly, cultural aspects of the future workforce, where the sector needs to pay closer attention to how it identifies, captures and expresses culture factors in workforce strategies,” he said.
Pivoting talent strategies
The deputy governor said future talent strategies would also need to create greater agility for institutions and individuals to respond to changing needs by embracing the new norms of talent mobility and encouraging diversity in the workforce.
As the pandemic has shaped a significantly more fluid and mobile workforce, Chew noted that many organisations are pivoting their talent strategies from ‘acquiring’ talent to ‘accessing’ talent.
"In other words, firms are looking for alternative ways to access ready talent apart from hiring.
"The ability to tap into external and more diverse talent pools to meet specific skill gaps is becoming a more important part of talent strategies of firms, including financial institutions.
"This also reflects the rise of a segment of the workforce associated with the gig economy and professional experts that are not affiliated to any single organisation,” she said.
As the sector moves forward, Chew said deepening employee engagements would become more critical to enable firms to anticipate shifting trends better and inform approaches to building a future-fit workforce.
"It is not uncommon today to find up to four different generations coexisting in many workplaces, each with different perspectives on leadership, learning and workplace culture.
"Recognising these differences within talent strategies will be important to cultivate a future-ready workforce successfully,” she added. - Bernama
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