Bank Negara: Financial industry's workforce needs to be agile, resilient to change

Bank Negara governor Datuk Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia governor Datuk Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour today stressed that the financial industry’s workforce needs to be agile and resilient to change as automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and other digitalisation trends are reshaping jobs and creating new ones.

He added that about 168,000 individuals working in the financial sector must be equipped with the right knowledge and skills to drive the financial industry to more effectively serve the economy.

Despite ongoing efforts to digitalise operations, Abdul Rasheed said the financial sector workforce expanded by almost 3.0 per cent in the last two years, with most employment opportunities targeted at highly skilled workers, averaging more than 95 per cent of total job vacancies and newly created positions.

"Implementing the Future Skills Framework (FSF) is a critical step for the industry in building a strong foundation for skills development and job-skills matching, addressing the challenges and opportunities. And for this, we need a whole-of-industry and nation approach,” he said at the launch of FSF for the financial sector here.

The FSF has identified 159 relevant job roles and 157 skills that will be in demand over the next three years, potential career development pathways, and access to nearly 1,000 capacity-building programmes.

Among others, the framework highlighted the growing demand for skills in frontier technologies, sustainability, and shariah.

Abdul Rasheed outlined three action items to futureproof the financial sector’s talents, including skills forecasting and planning, as an integral part of the workforce strategy for the sector to remain resilient.

"To do this effectively, we can learn from the UK’s Financial Services Skills Commission, which advocates forecasting skills at all levels - national, industry and firm.

"This means building allies for forecasting, undertaking detailed job understanding and data collection, and investing in skills development infrastructure,” he added. - Bernama