(19 June 2020 – Asia) DBS, OCBC and Citigroup have announced plans to add staff to their technology departments in Asia, despite industry-wide pressure to reduce headcounts.
“Demand is strong – a lot of the talent we talk to have a few offers on hand from the finance sector. While other hiring can wait, tech is not just something that you can pull the plug on. The systems need to keep running,” said Hong Kong-based recruitment firm Sirius Partners managing partner Hubert Tam.
DBS is creating 360 tech jobs for experienced staff to bolster its digital platform as part of its plan to hire more than 2,000 people in its home country this year. The lender is also looking to train and hire more people focusing on artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Part of the initiative is to help people reskill even if they don’t have backgrounds in technology, said DBS Singapore country head Shee Tse Koon.
OCBC, meanwhile, is looking for data scientists, analysts and engineers, along with mobile developers and people for information systems security roles, among others as part of its plan to hire 3,000 people in the country this year.
A large number of the 2,500 coders Citigroup is planning to hire this year will be based in Asia, specifically in Shanghai and the Indian cities of Pune and Chennai. “We have made significant progress to date and have put in place new and more digital hiring initiatives in response to the changing operating environment as a result of the ongoing pandemic,” said Citigroup in a statement.