2019. 7 however, given the accelerated pace of digitalisation, we need to do more, and at scale. we are now experimenting an artificial intelligence ( ai ) platform with 13 fi partners to automate the process of identifying adjacencies in jobs and skills, so that more workers can benefit from reskilling and pivot into suitable roles. we hope to share more about the platform early next year. creating opportunities our second priority is to expand opportunities for those aspiring to enter or reenter the financial sector workforce. 9. the national jobs council has been set up to mobilise tripartite partners ’ resources to create opportunities amidst the weak labour hiring conditions. i am pleased to note that the financial sector is one of the top contributing sectors to 2 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches the jobs and traineeships programmes, offering a wide range of opportunities, including in technology and innovation, retail and corporate banking. close to 60 fis have offered about 1, 300 sgunited traineeship positions for fresh and recent graduates in this challenging job market. as of end july 2020, 50 fis have committed to hiring 900 singaporeans over the next 3 years to be groomed for future leadership and specialist roles under structured talent development programmes supported by mas. the number of traineeship positions available in the second run of the attach - and - train technology in finance immersion programme has tripled, allowing 220 mid careers to be attached to and trained at fis to gain experience in key technology areas in financial services. 10. i thank the financial institutions which have joined us today, and hope to strengthen and expand this partnership with mas and our tripartite partners to create more job opportunities for singaporeans. creating the opportunities is only part of the task ahead. we need to bring together individual fis ’ contributions into a collective whole and help with job matching, so that opportunities can be more easily accessed. 11. ibf, as the integrated service provider for jobs and skills in the financial sector, will play the role of such a “ match - maker ”. the virtual career fair today, is one example, with 16 employers participating to provide a range of resources and opportunities for job seekers. over the next 12 to 18 months, ibf will progressively hold more career fairs to help job seekers source for and navigate the landscape. outside of career fairs, job seekers can also approach ibf careers connect for career advisory and matching to suitable opportunities in financial services. another example would be the singapore fintech association jobs

portal which was launched on 20 july. to date, it lists over 500 job opportunities in the fintech sector. at the same time, we need to upskill our workforce to deepen financial capabilities and acquire future - enabled skills so as to take on the opportunities created. 12. major fis, including standard chartered bank and aia, have stepped up on training for employees to deepen expertise and acquire new skills across domains, including business planning, compliance, wealth management and tech. we should not let up on training. we may not emerge from covid - 19 soon, and should take this period of slower growth to help our people and businesses build longer - term capabilities. to encourage continued and in fact intensified training, mas, in april this year, raised the level of ibf course fee subsidies for all locals from 50 % - 70 % to 90 %. ibf further provides a 5 % course fee credit, bringing the total course fee support to 95 %. in addition, we introduced the training allowance grant to alleviate the burden of manpower costs on fis, so that they can retain and upskill their employees. ibf has been bringing onstream more online courses, so that training can continue even with the safe management measures. the number of such courses has increased from about 400 to over 600 within the span of three months. as a result of these efforts, training participation has increased at least 75 % year - onyear, to 11, 000 in q2 2020. as the ibf credit and training allowance support will expire on 31 dec 2020, we are looking into extending these measures into next year, so as to provide longer term certainty and support for business and 3 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches workers. i would like to highlight in particular, the need to expand and deepen the singapore workforce ’ s capabilities in technology areas. 13. the demand for digital services is becoming stronger. this is why financial institutions continue to invest in digitalisation even with the current strong head - winds. more than 400 financial institutions and fintech firms have applied for the digital acceleration grant launched in april 2020, to strengthen their operational resilience, improve process efficiency, manage risks better and serve customers better. our efforts to grow the tech pipeline has yielded good results. however, demand continues to outstrip the local talent supply and fis have responded to the tech talent crunch by tripling the number of traineeship positions available in the second run of the attach - and - train technology in finance