The Sustainable Finance Jobs Transformation Map (JTM) laid out by MAS aims to support upskilling and reskilling in the financial sector and develop a new range of specialists in sustainable finance over the next three years.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has set aside S$35 million ($25.7 million) in the Financial Sector Development Fund to prepare local financial professionals to address emerging and more pressing sustainable finance challenges and tasks.

Along with the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF), supported by Workforce Singapore (WSG), MAS believes that deep sustainable finance skillsets will be required to perform the new job roles in Sustainability Risk and Sustainability Strategy. At the same time, job descriptions like relationship managers in corporate banking or portfolio managers will soon get new sustainability-related tasks.

Therefore, the abovementioned organizations launched the Sustainable Finance Jobs Transformation Map (JTM), clarifying the impact of sustainability trends on jobs in Singapore’s financial services sector and the emerging skills that the workforce will require to serve the growing sustainable financing demand in the region.

The key initiatives within the sector transformation include expanding sustainable finance courses for individuals and implementing an IBF Skills Badge as the industry benchmark for industry professionals’ sustainable finance skills. Besides, the S$35 million fund will support sustainable finance skills-based hiring and promotion by employers.

According to the JTM study conducted by KPMG in Singapore, the sustainable finance market in ASEAN will amount to S$4 to 5 trillion over the next decade. To seize the new market opportunities, Singapore’s financial services sector workforce should aim to undergo upskilling and reskilling.

Besides, it is projected that over 50,000 finance professionals in Risk, Compliance and Legal, Product Solutions and Management, Sales, After-Sales, Distribution, and Relationship Management segments will see new sustainable finance-related tasks added to their jobs to a moderate to high degree in the next few years.

As financial institutions increasingly prioritise sustainability as a core business strategy, new sustainability finance professions will emerge to design enterprise-level sustainable finance strategies and implement sustainability risk management policies.

Analysts and fund managers also predict that this year, investing in companies and industrial sectors’ transition to a low-carbon future will become the dominant trend in China and the Asia-Pacific region as demand for sustainable financial products remains high.