At the same time, the role of the financial services sector in the recent global economic meltdown has also raised questions on the issue of the quality of the leadership and workforce and for the need to place greater focus on developing ethical and responsible leaders who will be able to lead a sustainable industry over the medium and longer term. The economic costs of a failure to arrest talent shortages are strategically significant and include low productivity, the slow pace of innovation and lost opportunities. Building a strong talent pipeline has therefore become an economic imperative as human capital rivals financial capital as the critical economic engine of the future. This requires new and innovative ways of thinking about talent development, programs, processes and competencies. The human capital challenge has therefore to be approached with a different set of solutions. Giving recognition to its importance, in the United States, the accounting rules were adjusted to allow organisations to treat a wider range of talent development costs in the same manner as long-term investments in equipment, manufacturing plants and other facilities. Financial institutions today are also forming stronger relationships with business schools to increase the relevance of their curriculum. The World Economic Forum, through its recent work on skills and talent mobility, has fostered a concerted, multi-stakeholder, cooperation and dialogue among policy-makers, relevant international institutions, governments and businesses to develop interdisciplinary solutions to address the talent shortage.
Zeti Akhtar Aziz: Talent management, the new paradigm Opening remarks by Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the AIF (The Asian Institute of Finance) International Symposium 2011, Kuala Lumpur, 7 April 2011. *  *  *  It is my great pleasure to speak at this inaugural AIF International Symposium 2011 on Talent Management, the New Paradigm. While I may not be here in person, I am most certainly here in my commitment to this Symposium on the enhancement of human capacity in the financial services industry. Importance of human capital development Significant new trends continue to reshape the financial services industry. In this recent two decades, the intensification of the globalisation process, the advancement in technology and the unprecedented consequences of the global financial and economic crisis have contributed to these changes. While the global economy is now on a recovery path, several challenges continue to remain. The focus of the crises affected countries have been on the immediate term challenges involving the resumption of the functioning of financial markets and the financial intermediation process while supporting the overall economic growth. As part of the response to the crisis, is the financial regulatory reform both at the national and international level. This has also been reinforced by a tightening of the supervisory oversight. These cumulative developments are also dramatically transforming the financial landscape of the international and national financial systems. The future has therefore become more complex, uncertain, unfamiliar and more ambiguous.