MAS has gotten very good feedback on the growing electronic FX trading system in Singapore. Singapore has attracted key liquidity providers and platforms to base their pricing and matching engines here. We already have about seven banks and non-banks who have moved these activities to Singapore. Now, we have got another two global banks joining us.2 So even during this period, we are seeing positive, encouraging developments on the FX front. Upskilling Industry Workforce Talent development and upskilling the industry workforce is another key area that MAS has been focusing on during this period, so that finance professionals are able to function effectively and have a competitive advantage in the future. During this period of slower growth, MAS has been working with financial institutions to retain their talent, use the opportunity to upskill their human capital, and explore ways to build longerterm capabilities in digital functionalities, so that the industry can emerge stronger from the crisis. Last month, in April, MAS announced a $ million package, basically to support smaller financial institutions and FinTech firms, through the downturn. As part of this package, we launched a training allowance grant, which allows financial institutions, especially the smaller ones and FinTechs, to make use of the downtime to train and deepen the capabilities of their employees. We also set up a new digital acceleration grant. The larger financial institutions are able to invest heavily in digital platforms and digital capabilities. The smaller ones do not have the capacity to do that.
During the last two decades, the banking sector, which plays a prominent role in the Turkish financial system, has made significant progress in implementing structural changes towards a more financially liberalized Turkish economy. Combined with the effects of restructuring Turkish economy and the efforts for the integration to the modern world of finance, the Turkish banks achieved important changes in their institutional structures on the one hand, and in the quality of services and products on the other. In this very outward-oriented and closely supervised banking environment, the need for highly qualified managers and specialized personnel is obvious. With this in mind, Turkish Banks became more effective in their utilization of human resources. The number of university graduates and postgraduates in the banking sector has steadily increased over the last two decades, as has the level of professional training. The increase in the number of banks and qualified personnel, in turn, enhanced competition and contributed to broad utilization of new financial instruments and techniques. Furthermore, the banks were motivated to attain a dynamic structure through automation. During the last decade, Turkish 3  BIS Review 79/2000  banks became more automated and efficient, along with their foreign counterparts. For example, the number of ATMs in Turkey has increased from zero to over 8,000 in the last decade. Intense competition and a desire to integrate with global financial markets has driven banks to improve the quality and the variety of services through information technology and international payment systems.