At the national level, the landscape has also been significantly transformed to become more liberalised, more market oriented with greater adoption of technology. With more developed intermediaries and markets, the financial system has now become more complex, sophisticated and diversified. With the increased risks associated with these changes, equally significant has been the transformation of the regulatory and supervisory framework. These structural shifts are reshaping the demand for talent across the world. The success of businesses and the effectiveness of governments and policy makers critically depend on having the right talent. Increasingly, talent has become the most important asset of an organisation. As job complexities intensify, talent with new competencies and higher skill sets including technical skills with digital capabilities will be required. Developing skills for analytical and creative thinking skills will also be needed to promote innovation, solve complex problems, deal with the potential for multiple scenarios and to effectively manage wide ranging trade-offs. Given the increased level of international business, it will also be vital for talent to be able to deal with globalisation – an environment with a more diverse workforce and to be able to be able to operate effectively across different cultures, generations and perspectives. Communication skills, the potential to work collaboratively and managing complex relationships are further new skills required in this environment. Equally important are the new leadership skills that are needed in this new more complex, more ambiguous and highly uncertain environment. This includes the ability to manage in crisis conditions.
Talent with these new capabilities have tended to be short in supply. The demand for such talent with the new competencies and skills is made even more complex and challenging by the changing character and nature of the talent itself. Firstly, there is now greater mobility of the talent within industries, between industries and across borders. No longer can organisations rely on employment to retirement. The potential for retention has become challenging with the motivation of the workforce now becoming highly different. Among the factors that are important for the new generation is for the job to be interesting, challenging and fulfilling. They are drawn to greater engagement with the leadership, greater empowerment and being accorded greater exposure and potential for future development. A lack of recognition of the changes in the motivation of the new generation of the talent will not only present itself as a major challenge for human capital management but it is also likely to affect the harmonisation and cohesiveness of the organisation and its overall performance. Talent in the financial sector Let me say a few words about the specific talent challenges in the financial sector. The structural changes taking place in the financial system and the recent global financial crisis has and continues to drive dramatic change in the financial industry. Financial institutions are facing increased regulation, greater uncertainty in the operating environment, uneven competitive conditions and a severely damaged reputation in many parts of the world. These developments have important implications for the financial services workforce.