A Profile of Singapore: Banking and Consulting
Singapore is renowned for being a culturally diverse society; a home to a range of communities, cultures and religions. Strategically located to serve Asia Pacific, one of the world’s fastest-growing regions, it has a well established and thriving financial centre. But with the introduction of the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) last year, how has the landscape changed? What is the make up of the Singapore workforce?
Our research shows that Singapore financial services businesses are predominantly made up of men with an average age of 37. They are likely to be Chinese or Indian and working in either the IT or operations and middle office of an investment bank. The average earnings are around $131,059 per year and the majority are university educated. Over half (54%) also have children.
What else did we find?
Salary
Financial services workers earn the highest salaries with an average basic of $138,326. This is 12% higher than management consulting salaries and 25% more than the average non financial services pay. As banks look to execute crucial change agendas, there has been an increased demand for niche skillsets within change management and regulatory reform, so it is not surprising that the average salary remains high. This also goes some way to explain why strategy function employees remain the highest paid.
Gender
Our findings show that just one fifth of workers in Singapore are women. Gender diversity is increasingly recognised as essential to improved business performance and Singapore government leaders have been encouraging businesses to implement a diverse workforce. Our research shows that only 17% of Managing Directors are women with the highest proportion (24%) at Analyst/Executive level. Although there is some female representation at senior level, there is clearly still work to be done to create a working environment where women are equally represented.
Age
Unsurprisingly, businesses pay for experience – the older the employees, the higher the salary. In addition, as respondents get older, they become less likely to pursue permanent residency. Those aged over 40 are the least likely to apply for residency, compared to those aged 35 who will.
The findings show a diverse profile of workers in Singapore; it will be interesting to see how a tightening of the labour markets affects the workforce over the coming year.
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