DBS to re-skill 1,500 employees under professional conversion programme

DBS Bank is looking to re-skill 1,500 employees in the next 18 months under the bank’s professional conversion programme (DBS PCP), the first for a bank in Singapore. DBS has mapped out eight job roles to help employees in these roles obtain the necessary knowledge and competencies to take on new or enhanced roles within the bank after being re-skilled.

The roles identified are from departments across the bank, such as back-end operations in consumer banking and institutional banking and client-facing ones in branches.

For example, a customer service officer (CSO) currently stationed at the customer centre could be re-skilled to do more than just answering incoming calls. A CSO’s role can be enhanced to also serve customers through new digital channels such as live chat, video teller machines, emails and social media.

To fund the Bank’s PCP, DBS will receive partial funding from Workforce Singapore (WSG), with the balance of the re-skilling costs borne by the bank. Employees who are on the programme will undergo classroom training ranging from five days to a month and six months of on-the-job training.

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In a real example, Nahariah Mohd Nor [pictured in lead image - on screen], now 45 years old, joined DBS for the second time in 2008. As a service executive, her role was to serve customers’ banking needs over the counter at the branch and help them with account opening, cash deposits and withdrawals. This year, Nahariah wanted to try her hand at a new role and specifically requested to do something related to technology and banking.

After speaking with her manager, Nahariah underwent six weeks of intense classroom training and started her on-the-job training stint at the DBS Customer Centre as a Customer Service Officer. In this new role, she uses her 20 years of branch banking knowledge to help answer customers’ queries virtually.

Nahariah said, "The banking industry is changing so fast and I kept reading about all these digital trends in banking. I’m glad that I took the leap to re-skill myself because I now feel more confident to face the future where technology is changing the way customers bank and transact."

Lee Yan Hong, group head of HR, DBS Bank said: “With our customers’ banking preferences changing and technology transforming the way financial services are provided and delivered, over the next five years, DBS aims to re-skill our employees to equip them with the relevant skills to stay ahead in a dynamic financial industry.”

She added: “Our key focus is to future-proof our people and equip them with the necessary skills and abilities, to stay ahead of the curve and create better business outcomes for our customers.”

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