These will help affected professionals, including women and working mothers, to find jobs suitable for their skills. We believe that industry professionals such as yourselves will be able to make significant contributions towards this initiative, and we urge you to participate in any way that you can. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  20. As leaders in your respective companies, we hope that you will be welcoming to those looking to rejoin the industry, and acknowledge the experience that these professionals bring to the table. 21. Thirdly, given the challenging environment in financial services, it is more important than ever for employees to take charge of their own learning, careers, and development. Each of you can do much to encourage and institute training initiatives in your company, and to allow more time for employees to pursue further education in their specialisations. We look to FWA to continue being that strong influence in encouraging professionals to pursue continual rejuvenation, both in terms of skills and mindsets. Celebrating successes 22. I am glad to say that many financial institutions are with us in the journey of developing talent in the sector. In fact, a number of them are institutional members of FWA, who not only are close partners with us in building a strong manpower pipeline, but are also especially supportive of nurturing female talents. 23. For instance, Barclays, our host today, is the first bank in the world to join the United Nations initiative, HeForShe, which promotes gender parity in corporations.
First, strengthening talent development for individuals to achieve their fullest potential. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  •  MAS works in close partnership with the industry to provide training pathways and training opportunities for Singaporean finance professionals. The pursuit of continual learning related to financial sector competencies will help each and every one to attain mastery in their respective fields and achieve their fullest potential. •  MAS has a range of schemes to support the learning journey at all levels, from undergraduates and fresh graduates, to early/mid-career professionals, and to those in leadership positions. We have prepared a “SkillsFuture for the Financial Sector” infographic that you can find at your table which provides more information on these schemes. 9. For example, under the Finance Scholarship Programme (FSP), MAS supports early-mid career Singaporeans in developing specialist capabilities through post-graduate studies, in areas such as risk management, speciality insurance and quantitative finance. The recently launched Financial Sector SkillsFuture Study Award will also provide an additional channel of support to enable individuals to upgrade their skills through a wider range of specialist programmes. 10. Second, beyond competency-based training, cross-functional and international exposure is a key ingredient in building up leaders. We want to ensure that there are Singaporean professionals taking up leadership positions in the key financial institutions.