Banks may trim workforce, says ABM

PETALING JAYA: Banks may have to trim their workforce, and realign their internal strategies with the emergence of fintech and digitalisation in the sector, the Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) has said.
In a press release issued yesterday, ABM said these initiatives were part of the banks' efforts to realign their internal strategies in relation to manpower requirements for better efficiency to suit their respective business objectives in light of advancement of technology which is more system-driven.
It was referring to recent articles in the media pertaining to voluntary separation schemes by banks in Malaysia.
"With the emergence of financial technology and digitalisation in the banking sector, banks may take on approaches to trim its workforce in certain areas of its operations while increasing its workforce in other key focus areas," it said.
"As at end November 2017, there were over 4,000 vacancies in the banking industry. In addition, there were more than 4,500 new jobs created from January to November 2017 arising from digitalisation. Collectively, the vacancies and new roles created provide significant number of employment opportunities in the banking sector".
ABM said many of the new roles created are more focussed in the areas of automation and Information Technology (IT) which is crucial to meet the demands of the evolving dynamics of the digital banking eco-system.
To remain competitive in the digital banking sphere, banks have also initiated efforts with staff retraining, upskilling and/or redeploying opportunities in order to meet current demands of the banking industry, it added.