The ECB has been asked to assume responsibility for this mechanism, and to mould the existing national supervisory authorities into an effective and efficient federal supervisory team. We are making good progress on this front, and the SSM should become fully operational in the last quarter of 2014. Before we take on this task, we want to get an adequate view of what we will be supervising. In the coming months, the ECB will therefore undertake a balance sheet assessment. The importance of this exercise cannot be overestimated. This comprehensive exercise will encompass three steps: First, a supervisory risk assessment to review, quantitatively and qualitatively, key risks, including liquidity, leverage and funding. Second, an asset quality review (AQR) to enhance the transparency of bank exposures by reviewing the quality of banks’ assets, including the adequacy of asset and collateral valuation and related provisions. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Third, a stress test to examine the resilience of banks’ balance sheet to stress scenarios. These three elements are closely interlinked. The comprehensive assessment will conclude with an aggregate disclosure of the outcomes, at country and bank level, together with any recommendations for supervisory measures. This comprehensive outcome will be published prior to the ECB assuming its supervisory role in November 2014, and will include the findings of the three pillars of the comprehensive assessment. We will not publish any preliminary or intermediate results and I am quite surprised about the noise you hear these days in all directions about the possible outcome of the exercise.

The programme has provided 20 students with the opportunity to gain exposure to tech roles in finance that leads to potential employment with the bank. The 12-month programme – double the duration of typical internships – ties in students’ work projects with their final year core curriculum, making their learning more applied and practical. These examples show that with the right support and programmes, polytechnic graduates who are willing to put in their best can succeed in the financial sector. We need more financial institutions to do what JP Morgan, OCBC, and some others are doing. And we need to scale up these efforts. MAS is working with the industry to develop meaningful programmes and support mechanisms to facilitate the hiring of polytechnic graduates by financial institutions. The second group that we’re looking at is mid-career professionals from other sectors who are keen to pivot to the financial sector. This is already happening organically. Take for example Zainon Yussof, who started her career as a customer service officer in the healthcare sector. Last year, she took up a traineeship opportunity offered by BlackRock, a global asset management firm. Zainon learnt to help people plan their financial future and also picked up valuable tech programming skills. Her background in customer service enabled her to address client queries effectively and collaborate with stakeholders to find solutions to problems. This landed her a permanent role, as an analyst with BlackRock’s Aladdin Technology Team. Another example is Edris Boey. Edris started her career as a financial auditor at KPMG.