3 in 4 CFOs face intense overseas competition for talent

The competition further widens skills gap.

Banks and financial firms are finding it hard to woo potential talents as competition from overseas markets intensify, a survey from Robert Half revealed.

According to the study, more than three in four, or 79% Chief Financial Officers are experiencing more competition from overseas when trying to attract skilled professionals, further intensifying the current skills gap.

This is particularly evident on medium-sized companies, as 94% of CFOs within these organisations said competition from foreign markets for talent is increasing.

Meanwhile, in terms of the scope of demand for skilled professionals sourced from overseas, more than four in 10 (44 per cent) CFOs say they intend to source at least 10 per cent of their workforce from foreign markets.

Robert Half Singapore managing director Matthieu Imbert- Bouchard said the city-state has always been an attractive destination for foreign workers and expats.

"Its global reputation for business excellence and innovation continues to attract skilled financial services professionals from the region. However, despite the effort to recruit more local talent, companies are forced to compete with foreign markets to mitigate the effects of the current skills shortage,” Imbert-Bouchard noted.

He argued that companies are forced to source candidates from foreign talent pools.

"Despite how attractive the city-state is for foreign professionals, competition is high within the region for high-calibre candidates, particularly Hong Kong, and Singaporean companies are under increasing pressure to compete with these foreign markets,” the managing director explained.

Around 79% of CFOs attributed their inability to innovate because of the skills shortage.

“Companies need to adapt their staff attraction and retention policies to offset the impact of a skills shortage and keep their top performing employees. And while there is a strong focus for companies to source their staff locally, we are increasingly seeing Singaporean businesses offer attractive remuneration and expatriate packages to senior financial services candidates in order to persuade them to make the move to the city-state,” Imbert- Bouchard stressed.