As such, continuous investment in human intellectual capital must be made to ensure the availability of best talents at all levels of the institution. Most importantly, strategic leadership at top management level is required to chart the strategic course and drive the banking institution towards attaining the highest standards of performance. The business environment remains dynamic, as such human resource management must adjust to support business strategies and realise improvements in business processes and systems by ensuring employees are equipped with the appropriate skills at all times. Such adjustment requires greater integration of personnel policies and practices with the corporate mission and goals, improvement in recruitment practices to attract the best talents and greater focus on human resource development. While qualification and skills of staff are critical elements, of greater importance is the ability to translate knowledge into enhancing the capabilities and excellence of the institution. Banking institutions will have to enhance the level of competencies and motivation on an ongoing basis, cultivate professionalism and the right attitude, and create and maintain a learning environment. For Islamic finance, the banking industry needs to continually promote human capital development and expertise to create a larger pool of experts and high calibre professionals in Islamic banking and finance. In particular, adequate resources should be allocated in building distinctive capabilities in the newly emerging areas such as private equity investments, real estate investments, private wealth and asset management.

For this reason, they are demanding a broader range of products and services at more competitive prices through more efficient and convenient channels. Corporate customers have also become more performance-oriented and are demanding both competitively priced credit facilities and world-class financial advisory services. In this environment, the challenge is for banking institutions to anticipate and respond quickly to the differentiated demands and expectations of customers to sustain their competitive advantage. With growing customer expectations for continuous availability of services, the ability to continue to provide critical banking services at all times will also be crucial in the pursuit of building and maintaining their competitive edge. In conjunction with this, banking institutions must be able to quickly recover mission critical functions and assets during a major interruption to ensure efficient and reliable services to their customers. Technological advancement, which has increased the complexity of banking business and which has led to the emergence of increasingly innovative products and distribution channels, also presents opportunities for the banking sector. With ICT, financial services are being delivered to places and markets without requiring physical branch networks through a growing array of alternative delivery channels, including Internet, ATMs, and even mobile phones. The challenge to banking institutions is to effectively leverage on the opportunities offered by technology to innovate products and services aimed at attaining greater efficiency, reliability and competitiveness. While the efficiency of electronic means of doing banking is acknowledged, banking institutions should recognise the need for them to meet customer expectations for more personalised and quality services.