AICB Chief Executive, Edward Ling at press conference Launch of National Future Skills Framework (FSF) for the Malaysian Financial Sector. KAMARUL ARIFFIN/TheStar
KUALA LUMPUR: With Malaysia’s workforce undergoing a huge transformation from the emergence of job roles that were non-existent 10 years ago, the Future Skills Framework (FSF) is expected to act as a central reference on how to bridge the skills gap in the financial sector.
The framework was developed by the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers (AICB), Islamic Banking and Finance Institute Malaysia and the Malaysian Insurance Institute.
AICB chief executive Edward Ling said more than 40% of jobs were at risk of being automated, with 57% of all jobs being affected by automation in the next two decades.
He said this was why the FSF will aim to not only bring transformation but also promote talent mobility, provide clear career development and reduce unemployment.
“While some have already started with the upskilling and reskilling, there was no overarching vision of what these skills should look like in a changing environment,” he said during the launch of the FSF here yesterday.
According to Ling, the FSF identifies 159 relevant job roles and 157 skills that will be in demand for the next three years.
“There are two categories, prime skills and power skills. We found that we could match these skills with training programmes from entities like Talent Corp Malaysia Bhd and the Human Resource Development Corp Bhd (HRD Corp),” he said.
Ling told StarBiz that people wanting to participate in training will be able to utilise the monthly contributions to the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) while they look into other possibilities for funding.
“We may speak to other organisations for those people that are not covered by the HRDF because we do not want costs to be a hurdle for those wanting to upskill and reskill,” he said.
Ling added the FSF will remain a live document as the workforce landscape continues to scale up quickly.
“Perhaps on a yearly basis, we will refresh the document. It has to be an ongoing effort because the world is changing so quickly. Training programmes may be added if necessary as well,” he said.
He added that being the first of its kind framework in Malaysia, the FSF has identified at least 17 roles that were not common or relevant before but now are.
“These are what we call emerging roles. For now, we are only planning for the next three years. We do not want to plan too far ahead for we don’t know what can change in the future,” he noted.
Malayan Banking Bhd
(Maybank) group chief human capital officer Datuk Nora Abd Manaf said while the training programmes were not mandatory, the financial sector was one that was used to having compliance and regulatory-type learning.
“It’s already almost a given that it is necessary because by default, if you don’t upskill yourself it will affect your career and your relevance. It’s more of making sure that training is not solely academic, so people can see how it will really help them and allow them to also take ownership,” she said.
On measuring success or take-up rates of these initiatives, Nora said some indicators would eventually reveal the employability factor.
“For instance in Maybank, we track what percentage of vacancies are filled up internally. It is one way of guaranteeing our people that we are investing in them. Our target is 80%, which means every time there are vacancies, eight must be filled internally,” she explained.
Additionally, AICB chairman Tan Sri Azman Hashim said it would be vital to measure and assess FSF’s implementation, including resource allocation and productivity gains. He said for continuous sustainability, a custodian may be the answer for long-term stewardship.
“Forming a network of specialists among our stakeholders to share best practices will also be instrumental in advancing the FSF as a cutting-edge resource,” he said.
Furthermore, Bank Negara governor Datuk Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said skills forecasting and planning must be an integral part of the workforce strategy for the financial sector to remain resilient.
He said this will include forecasting at all levels, including national, industry and at firm level. “The need is clear for two reasons, to serve as critical input to foundational education to reduce skills gaps among graduates and to better anticipate reskilling and upskilling needs of the financial sector workforce,” he said.
Meanwhile, Human Resources Minister Steven Sim said that TalentCorp has been tasked with mapping out similar frameworks for 10 other strategic sectors in the country.
Sim said the frameworks for these sectors will take a similar approach as the FSF, with added weightages on the impact of artificial intelligence, digitalisation and the green economy.
“It will be data-driven and industry-driven and the Human Resources Ministry can easily do this via our existing Future Skills Talent Councils which are sectoral expert groups consisting of current professionals in each sector,” he said.
Sim added all the frameworks are expected to be completed by the end of September this year. “The frameworks will be expected to provide guidance in relation to over 4.5 million jobs in these 10 sectors. If we add today’s financial sector, then it’s 4.67 million. The 10 sectors constitute 79% of our gross domestic product.”
