Singapore-headquartered DBS announced plans to double the recruitment of financial planning advisors this year.
The bank aims to hire more than 650 wealth planning managers and insurance consultants by end-2021.
The insurance consultant role by DBS is newly created and is supported by financial planning solutions provider Manulife Singapore.
The role, which is an industry-first, allows for the flexible hours and independence of a traditional financial advisor, while providing the institutional support and benefits akin to those enjoyed by DBS’ wealth planning managers.
“With 2020 behind us, we hope to help hasten our nation’s road to recovery by creating new roles that support our local workforce and address the growing preference for work flexibility,” said Brandon Lam, Singapore Head of DBS Financial Solutions Management Group.
The bank has seen a steady rise in demand for financial and retirement planning and solutions over the past few years, which further picked up in 2020 with the onset of Covid-19 and the introduction of SGFinDex, the world’s first public-private open banking initiative.
Post SGFinDex’s rollout on 7 December 2020, DBS NAV Planner, the bank’s hyper-personalised financial and retirement planning solution, saw a surge in new visitors, with 200,000 trying DBS NAV Planner for the first time in December 2020.
Between April and December 2020, customer interest in protection surged, with the protection feature of DBS NAV Planner attracting more than 300,000 visits. The solution has now passed a key milestone, hitting 2 million users since its introduction in April 2020. Retail investment also hit a record high in 2020 – investment and trading activities tripled compared to 2019.
The new role of insurance consultant was created in response to drastic shifts in workforce preferences due to the pandemic and is in line with the series of transformation initiatives DBS has rolled out in 2020 to realise new ways of working.
“The events of the past year have revolutionised traditional ways of working and accelerated digital adoption. We’ve witnessed first-hand that the way customers want to interact with us is changing and we need to keep pace with that. Partnering with DBS to introduce these new roles will further add to our successful partnership and help us serve the evolving needs of our customers,” said Jonathan Yen, Chief Bancassurance Officer of Manulife Asia. – BusinessNewsAsia.com