What’s more remarkable is that the financial sector continued to create jobs right through the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. In the first half of this year, financial services created 1,900 net jobs. 100% of these jobs went to locals. These are good jobs: the median income for locals in the financial sector is $ compared to the national median of $ Of course, the median income of foreigners in the financial sector is even higher, at $ We will address this issue at a later webinar when we talk about job specialisation and job leadership, and how we can enhance the wage prospects of Singaporeans in finance. For now, let’s focus on the job opportunities. https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/speeches/2020/gearing-up-for-new-and-evolving-jobs-in-financial-services  5/18  04/12/2020  "Gearing up for New and Evolving Jobs in Financial Services" - Remarks by Mr Ravi Menon, Managing Director, Monetary Authorit…  We should not be complacent. Just because the sector has done well on the jobs front so far does not mean that it will continue to do so in the future. The economic recovery is uneven and remains highly uncertain. MAS is therefore keeping a watchful eye on financial institutions’ hiring and retrenchment plans. Earlier this year, MAS conducted a pilot employment outlook survey for the financial sector. The pilot survey covered over 30 financial institutions on their projected hiring and job losses over 12 months from July 2020 to June 2021. Together, these firms account for over 40% of the financial services workforce. Let me share the findings.

The regional economies recognize the importance of developing these markets thus co-ordinated efforts through various initiatives have been undertaken to remove impediments to these developments. With further lowering of trade barriers under the ASEAN Free Trade Area and ASEAN+3 initiatives, intra-regional investment flows would further increase. The intensification of regional co-operation has been enhanced in recent years. In the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, there has been an increase in the level of financial co-operation among the Asian countries. These efforts have revolved around swap facilities to provide emergency liquidity assistance, regional surveillance and peer review to enhance regional financial and monetary co-operation, regional capacity building and the enhancement of skills and capabilities of regional financial regulators and policymakers. Regional surveillance and peer review in particular is an important step forward as it will contribute to confidence building and would complement the implementation of the various regional financing schemes. Significant progress has been made in achieving the objectives of the Chiang Mai Initiative to create swap facilities to provide emergency liquidity assistance for the region. Closer co-operative efforts in the standardisation of systems and documentation procedures would also contribute to facilitating intra-regional trade and investment among economies within the region, as well as with the rest of the world. Effective co-operation in these areas will augment the foundations for realising the tremendous potential that this region possesses for future growth and prosperity.