Leading financial and technology centers such as London, New York, Silicon Valley and Hong Kong are among the top fintech (financial technology) hubs globally. Singapore has also joined that illustrious list, with all five hubs emerging with a leading index performance score of 25 or less in the Connecting Global FinTech: Hub Review 2016 report, published by Deloitte in collaboration with All Street Research.
Ho Kok Yong, financial services industry leader, Southeast Asia, at Deloitte, says the Singaporean government takes the view that fintech will be a crucial differentiator for Singapore to remain a regional financial hub and is looking to take the lead in servicing the region’s huge fintech appetite.
As fintech creates new jobs and displaces existing job roles, Kok Yong has praised the Singapore central bank’s decision to steer the curriculum in polytechnics by creating internships within start-ups, local banks and regulatory bodies for graduating students.
“People with pure technical skills are becoming increasingly irrelevant, and it is pertinent for educational institutions to redesign courses that go beyond technical skills to cater to the technical innovators of the future,” says Kok Yong.
