Huxley regional sales director based in Singapore, Alena Salakhova, has strengthened the view that fintech does not ‘kill’ jobs. In an interview with the company, Salakhova said that despite reports suggesting that technology has increased layoffs in laborious industries like manufacturing these are trends that are likely to happen in the short run. Industry 4.0 – the trend towards automation, cloud management and data exchange – may have displaced jobs, but it also created new ones.
In 2019, Singaporean fintech companies have already raised SGD990 million – a 69 per cent increase compared to 2018, according to research by Accenture. This value is predicted to grow in the 2020s with greater commitment by innovation hubs to be set up across the nation. This should reinforce your decision to stay within the fintech sector or perhaps look at the options to pursue a career within the industry.
Alena has highlighted further areas of technology that are likely to spur further growth and fuel more jobs in 2020.
- Blockchain
More often than not, the financial sector has always experienced hiring freeze, as well as serious layoffs due to the adoption of new technologies. As such, greater investments in blockchain and DevOps, coupled with a surge in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data analytics, can lead to a huge cut in headcount budget.
However, no technology will be able to function without vulnerabilities, errors and risks of its own. Human support is needed especially in terms of monitoring and regulation. As a result, Singapore’s talent market is expected to reach 14 per cent growth in the next 10 years from its current 14,000 employees within blockchain – reported by South China Morning Post.
Tech specialists can consider becoming a blockchain-related specialist such as a blockchain engineer or a blockchain project manager. You will interact with companies seeking blockchain solutions for their business, and help adapt the technology to their platforms and needs.
- Robotics
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) refers to the usage of software robots which are slated to complete repetitive and labour-intensive tasks. Ideal for numerous banking applications, RPA can reduce manual workload so that employees can focus on intricate banking operations and decision making. As a result, the impact of robotics on the hiring market is the decline of middle-skill occupations that require manual labour, and a rise in high-skill occupations like software and computing engineers and developers.
According to Forrester’s report, over 1 million middle-skilled jobs will be replaced in 2020 by software robotics, RPA, virtual agents and chatbots, as well as machine-learning-based decision management roles. It is also pertinent to note that every automated system must be designed with humans at the core to manage, control and pre-empt faults that may prevail.
- Cloud
‘Cloud’ has been the buzzword of the year in Singapore. Globally, the cloud market is forecasted to exceed USD241 billion in terms of value in 2020 due to incoming innovation and technologies.
Particularly in Singapore, cloud is expected to create nearly 22,000 new jobs, boosting the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by SGD41 billion in the next five years, highlighting great optimism for growth in the market.
Unfortunately talent within fintech is hard to come by. These high-performing and in-demand talent know their worth and are meticulous when it comes to choosing the right job. To combat this, employers will need to focus on creating a compelling offer to attract potential employees.