It might be a good time to look for jobs in Singapore
Singapore startups less than gung-ho about adding to the city’s 18,000-strong fintech workforce. However, it may not be a bad time to look for jobs in the Asian financial center. Rivals like Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi are hungry for qualified professionals.
And that’s making Singapore's immigration hurdles less onerous than before.
In a 2021 Accenture survey, nearly two out of three firms blamed their talent gap on not being able to get work permits for foreigners. Nowadays, only 37% cite difficulty in securing employment passes as a hiring challenge. For this dramatic change, the employers and employees should thank Hong Kong.
The Chinese special administrative region is intent on reversing its brain drain, initially caused by a crackdown against political dissent, and then, by its isolationist Covid-19 policies.
But this year, Hong Kong is back in the game. A Top Talent Pass program, introduced in late 2022, is luring graduates of prestigious universities globally by offering a 24-month visa even if they don’t have job offers in hand. In the first nine months, the city gave out 100,000 work permits, nearly 2 1/2 times as many as it did last year.
Singapore can’t afford to slim down when Hong Kong is bulking up.
The city-state’s annual fintech festival is taking place this week amid a drought in growth capital. Through the first three quarters, the sector has witnessed only $1 billion in deal volumes. This is a second year of decline — from $5.5 billion in 2021 and $2.6 billion in 2022.
Last year’s crypto meltdown has killed the buzz around decentralized finance. At the same time, Hong Kong appears to have Beijing’s tacit approval to position itself as a retail hub for trading virtual assets.
Then there’s the
