2013

BANKING CAREER? START IN WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Wealth management is the best place to begin a career in the banking and financial services industry, according to a new survey of industry bosses. Nearly 30 per cent of teh 150 senior financial services professionals polled in Singapore by recruitment firm Robert Half thought that wealth management was the best choice.

SMU IS NO 2 IN AN FT RANKING OF MASTERS COURSE

The Master of Science in Wealth Management programme run by SMU has been ranked second in the world among comparable masters in finance courses internationally. This is the first time the programme garnered such recognition since The Financial Times introduced the rankings in 2011. The ranking assessed areas such as faculty and student diversity as well as the current salaries of the alumni from the Class of 2010, compared to their salaries pre-enrolment. SMU graduates were found to draw US$85,836 on the average, with their salaries rising by an average of 58 per cent after graduation. They also outdid the alumni of the four other schools in terms of career status and seniority three years after graduation. The SMU graduates were also the quickest to land jobs, with 85 per cent employed three months after graduation, compared to 81 per cent for London Business School graduates, 62 per cent for Hong Kong University graduates, 34 per cent for Florida University graduates and 26 per cent for Illinois University graduates.

FINANCIAL TIMES GLOBAL MASTERS IN FINANCE 2013 - POST-EXPERIENCE PROGRAMMES

The SMU Master of Science in Wealth Management (MWM) programme has been ranked second in the world by The Financial Times (FT) in its Masters in Finance Post-experience Ranking 2013.  Overall, the ranking demonstrates a high level of satisfaction amongst the SMU MWM alumni.  The survey found that SMU MWM alumni earn an average of US$85,836 three years after graduation and are the second-highest paid in the marketplace amongst the top five institutions listed.  Among the five institutions, the SMU programme also saw the highest percentage of graduates who received employment within three months of graduation (85%) and the highest percentage of company internships (47%).  The FT survey also ranked SMU first in ‘Careers’, ‘Placement Success’ and ‘International Course Experience’.

IBF PROPOSES REVISIONS TO FINANCIAL INDUSTRY COMPETENCY STANDARDS

Speaking at an industry event on Tuesday, Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong said that the FICS must continue to maintain the high standards of competency expected of every financial services practitioner. In line with this, the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) will be enhancing the FICS framework to guide financial sector professionals in upgrading their skills. Among them, streamlining the FICS certification from six to four levels, working with industry veterans to capture their experiences as part of training resources, as well as introducing new foundation programmes for Wealth Management, Corporate Banking and Compliance by the fourth quarter this year. The new programmes will be offered at the Financial Training Institute@SMU, the International Compliance Training Academy, Swiss Asia Banking School and the Wealth Management Institute. Meanwhile, a new Financial IT Academy@SMU will also be set up to train financial services IT practitioners. SMU was jointly appointed by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and the MAS as the lead provider to offer training programmes for the financial services industry.

'UPGRADE SKILLS OR LOSE EDGE IN FINANCE'

If professionals in the fast-changing finance industry do not continually upgrade their skills, they will lose their edge in what is a ferociously competitive sector. That was the message from Mr Lawrence Wong, the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, who told an awards dinner on Tuesday that the changing financial landscape with more complex products meant a demand for more skilled professionals. In his speech, Mr Wong highlighted the plans which the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) are putting in place to raise standards in the financial industry. The initiatives involve three prongs - beefing up the Financial Industry Competency Standards (FICS) framework, developing structured training for information technology employees and improving the training landscape. Fresh graduates and mid-career hires with no prior experience in the financial sector will be able to get certified under the FICS once they have undergone training and assessments, noted Mr Wong. IBF will work with the Financial Training Institute@SMU, the International Compliance Training Academy, the Wealth Management Institute, and the Swiss Asia Banking School to provide this training.

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SINGAPORE 'SET TO BE NO. 2 WEALTH CENTRE IN THE WORLD'

Singapore will not only continue to be a favourite investment destination for wealthy people but it will become one of the world's top two wealth centres, according to a new report compiled by the Bank of Singapore and property consultancy Knight Frank. It found that Singapore will move up from its third ranking now to surpass New York and take the number two position within 10 years. London is expected to hold the number one spot. A separate Knight Frank survey of 400 private bankers around the world placed Singapore in sixth place out of 40 cities considered important to wealthy investors.