The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) have launched the Young Talent Programme for AI in Finance (YTP-AIF), a structured programme commencing this August that will equip undergraduates with "both applied AI and financial sector skills that are in demand", says IBF.
The announcement was made by Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong at the Financial Industry Fiesta 2026, held at Singapore Management University (SMU), as he stressed the need for more collaboration between education and employment amidst the changing jobscape.
In his speech, DPM Gan noted that Singapore's financial sector “contributes about 14% of our GDP, and employs around 200,000 professionals, more than 80% of whom are locals”.
He pointed at geopolitical tensions and AI as the main contributors to the current volatile global economy, but stressed that Singapore is primed to turn these factors into advantages, calling it “well-positioned” to become a trusted location for companies to “manage risk, access talent, deploy technology, and serve regional and global markets”.
"Workers who are comfortable using AI, and who also have strong domain knowledge, will have a clear advantage," he added.
According to IBF, YTP-AIF is open to undergraduates in their second to fourth years from all disciplines across Singapore's autonomous universities. The three-month programme, run during the school semester, comprises a foundational AI masterclass, followed by an applied learning phase working on industry problem statements spanning eight to ten weeks, and then concluded with a project presentation to participating financial institutions. If selected, participants then progress into internship, traineeship, or full-time roles.
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The masterclass and applied learning components will be conducted by SMU and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and will be credit-bearing for their students. For the pilot, these components will not bear credits for participating undergraduates from other Singaporean universities.
Participating financial institutions include DBS, OCBC, UOB, Goldman Sachs, JPMorganChase, HSBC, and more, said IBF.
They added that AWS and Bloomberg are also involved as technology partners: AWS will provide cloud infrastructure and an “innovation sandbox”, while Bloomberg will co-develop the masterclass curriculum and offer participants complimentary access to the Bloomberg Terminal and its BQuant analytics platform, as well as an internship opportunity.
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The YTP-AIF is part of a broader push to develop local finance talent.
“Since 2023, close to 60 financial institutions have committed to employ and train over 700 fresh university graduates through the finance associate management scheme,” said Carolyn Neo, CEO at IBF, on IBF’s push to develop and connect young talent.
In her opening statement, Neo detailed how IBF has also convened 10 financial institutions and five polytechnics to offer over 300 internship and traineeship opportunities for polytechnic students over two years, while 54 ITE students received the IBF Golden Jubilee ITE Scholarship during the organisation's 50th anniversary.
Altogether, MAS and IBF have worked with around 20 financial institutions to make available more than 1,000 internship and traineeship positions over the next year, added DPM Gan.
DPM Gan also cited the UBS Singapore University Programme for Employability and Readiness (SUPER), which plans to take in over 30 university and polytechnic graduate trainees across global wealth management, investment banking, risk control and human resources this year, as well as UOB's two-year AI and Data Analytics Programme, co-developed with NUS and supported by IMDA and MAS.
“We will support more such programmes,” he said, “so that financial institutions can build stronger pipelines of AI-enabled talent.”
The AI transition is not only about future graduates, DPM Gan stressed, commenting that many existing workers in the financial sector will also need to refresh to adapt to AI.
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"If Government, industry, educators and workers each play our part, we can keep our financial sector competitive and resilient — and ensure that it continues to provide good jobs and meaningful careers for Singaporeans," he said.
Addressing the students, he said: "There are tremendous possibilities ahead and multiple pathways to help you succeed.”
Applications are open on IBF's website, with selected participants to be notified by mid-July.
