The Fintech Talent Development,Competency, and Manpower Study

The Fintech Talent Development, Competency, and Manpower Study 42 Technical Readiness and Technical Skill Gaps According to a study by the Hong Kong Academy of Finance 5 , more than 75% of banks encounter difficulties in talent recruitment and retention. The talent shortage has been in existence for a number of years in 2018, the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers conducted a survey 6 and reported almost all respondents (97%) recognize the need to develop capabilities in fintech and cybersecurity. However, only 44% of them have taken any relevant training programs. To assess the skill gaps facing the industry, we asked the surveyed firms to highlight the technical skills that are in most demand and the results are shown in Exhibit 16. Cybersecurity Skills at the Top of the Wanted List Cybersecurity tops the list as it underpins all digital financial products and services. It is also a core regulatory requirement that a financial firm must comply to operate. It also exposes the firms to substantial financial and reputation risks if cybersecurity is not well managed and enforced. Cybersecurity is a highly technical profession and specialists are often hired to design, implement, and monitor the cybersecurity function of a firm. Fintech professionals are typically not trained as cybersecurity specialists, but they should possess the needed knowledge to understand security requirements and ways to enforce them and their compliance and data privacy implications. They serve as the bridge between business, compliance, and security specialists. Data Science and AI Data science and artificial intelligence are related to a wide spectrum of analytical tasks within a firm, including customer experience, product development, marketing, credit scoring, risk management, compliance and regulatory requirements fulfillment. Increasingly, financial firms are adopting evidence-based decision making which requires the firm’s capacity to capture, process, and analyze a large amount of structured and unstructured data. Developing talent who have an analytical mindset and the skills in empirical analysis are of paramount importance. 5 Fintech Adoption and Innovation in the Banking Industry , Hong Kong Academy of Finance, May 2020. 6 Talent Development Survey, Hong Kong Institute of Bankers, 2018