Mr Chee Hong Tat, Minister for National Development and Deputy Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore,
IBF Council members and tripartite partners,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1. Good evening, everyone. A very warm welcome to IBF Distinction Evening 2025. Special thanks to Minister Chee Hong Tat for joining us this evening as our Guest of Honour.
A Year of Progress Since Our 50th Anniversary
2. Last year, we celebrated IBF’s 50th anniversary - a milestone that reflects a strong record of industry and tripartite partnership in building a skilled and resilient workforce in the financial sector. Over the past year, IBF has deepened collaboration with our partners on several fronts. Let me give a few highlights.
3. In July this year, 12 financial institutions and five polytechnics worked with IBF to make available around 300 internship and traineeship opportunities for Polytechnic talent in the next 2 years. IBF also inked partnerships with NUS, NTU and SUSS and UOB to explore accelerated work-study pathways for polytechnic students. These partnerships are timely, as they create multiple pathways for polytechnic talent to access meaningful training opportunities in the financial sector amidst global economic uncertainties.
4. We encourage more FIs to partner IBF to offer young talent valuable exposure to the financial sector.
5. On the skills development front, IBF has ramped up upskilling in sustainable finance with key FIs to meet growing demands in the industry for these skills.
6. Since the launch of the Sustainable Finance Jobs Transformation Map (JTM) in 2024, the sustainable finance training completions have tripled to ~13,000, with over 7,000 financial sector professionals trained. Following the Private Banking Industry Group’s commitment in 2022, close to 3,800 Private Bankers have also been upskilled in Sustainable Finance. IBF will continue to work closely with financial institutions to upskill the workforce in key priority functional areas.
7. IBF has also developed a GenAI chatbot which provides personalised advice on the most relevant sustainable finance skills for a given job role and recommends the right courses for upskilling.
Recognising Our Partners
8. In April this year, IBF was honoured to be conferred the Partner of Labour Movement Award. This Award recognised the workforce transformation initiatives in the financial sector and strong partnerships with the unions over many years.
9. This award reflects the collective efforts of industry and union partners who have worked alongside IBF to drive skills and jobs development. I would like to acknowledge the contributions of IBF Council members, members of the various Committees, Workgroups, Exam Boards, FI partners, training providers, Institutes of Higher Learning, Unions, and government agencies.
10. Tonight, we also recognise FIs that have shown strong commitment to upskilling and reskilling their workforce. Congratulations to all the award winners.
11. We also celebrate the professional excellence and contributions of our financial sector leaders, through the conferment of seven IBF Distinguished Fellows and the recognition of 34 IBF Fellows. This year’s awards include two new categories, recognising HR and Key Corporate Function leaders who have played a key role in workforce development initiatives.
12. IBF’s achievements over the past year are made possible only through the partnerships with all of you. Thank you.
13. It is now my pleasure to invite our Guest of Honour, Minister Chee Hong Tat, to deliver his keynote address.
