The Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) has proposed revisions to the Financial Industry Competency Standards (FICS).
SINGAPORE: The Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) has proposed revisions to the Financial Industry Competency Standards (FICS).
This comes after a year-long review to find out if the standards are still relevant in a rapidly evolving financial landscape.
Speaking at an industry event on Tuesday, Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong said the FICS must continue to maintain the high standards of competency expected of every financial services practitioner.
Mr Wong is also a board member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Mr Wong said: "With the financial industry admitting thousands of new entrants every year, it is no longer sufficient to provide "on-the-job" training and there is an urgent need to ensure that new entrants undergo structured training and acquire basic competencies before they are admitted into the industry.
"As the global financial landscape changes, Singapore's financial sector will also be affected and Singaporeans working in this sector must equip themselves with relevant competencies to keep pace with the industry's changes."
So, the Institute of Banking and Finance will be enhancing the FICS framework to guide financial sector professionals upgrade their skills.
Among them, streamlining the FICS certification from six to four levels, working with industry veterans to capture their experiences as part of training resources, as well as introducing new foundation programmes for Wealth Management, Corporate Banking and Compliance by the forth quarter this year.
The new programmes will be offered at the Financial Training Institute@SMU, the International Compliance Training Academy, Swiss Asia Banking School and the Wealth Management Institute.
In addition, IBF said new entrants with no prior financial sector experience will now be consider for certification at the foundation level, as long as they undergo FICS training and assessments.
Meanwhile, a new Financial IT Academy@SMU will also be set up to train financial services IT practitioners.
SMU was jointly appointed by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and the MAS as the lead provider to offer training programmes for the financial services industry.
Another plan is in the strengthening of the financial sector training landscape under the Financial Training Scheme (FTS). The FTS is currently administered by the MAS and it provides incentives to financial institutions to enhance the skills of their workers in Singapore.
The FTS has been widely utilised by the industry - close to 400 financial institutions across various segments tap on the FTS scheme each year.
Responding to industry feedback that it would be useful for a central administrator to review the quality of FTS providers, the MAS has decided to appoint the IBF as the overall administrator for the FICS and FTS schemes.
This is to ensure a comprehensive oversight of the financial sector training landscape.
For a start, IBF will be introducing a new framework to recognise providers and programmes eligible for FTS subsidy. And this will allow for a more transparent and efficient process for the industry in seeking FTS support.
Mr Wong said: "As markets evolve with time, as products and technologies get replaced, the ability to continually enhance our competencies will be our core advantage. This means stronger business innovation and continual upgrading of our skills."
He also encouraged industry players to work with the IBF and MAS to groom local talent and build up capabilities of the financial sector.
- CNA/de
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Friday, May 10, 2013
Money Is It Your All?
How you relate to and feel about money has a great impact on how good you are at managing your money and making important financial decisions.
For example, knowing that you are in the financial red zone because of credit card debt is useful but only knowing won't be enough for you to solve your problem till you take the next step. Which is to examine your current spending and taking steps to reduce your debt.
Some people who continually rack up consumer debt have a spending addiction. Other people who jump in and out of investments and follow them like a hawk have psychological obstacles that prevent them from holding onto investments. Also there are the philosophical and psychological issues relating to money and the meaning of life.
Saving more money and increasing your net worth aren't always the best approaches. Sometimes its possible to attach too much significance to personal wealth accumulation and neglect important human relationships in pursuit of more money. Some retirees have a hard time loosening the purse strings and actually spending some of the money they worked so hard to save for their golden years.
Some people actually save too much money. As a guide, it is not ideal if you save so much that lose sight of your ultimate goal which is in the case of most people to enjoy life and look after their friends and family effectively.
Balancing you financial goals with other important life goals is key to your happiness. What's the point, for example, of staying in a well paid admired profession if you don't care for the work and you are mainly doing it for the financial rewards? Life is too short and precious for you to squander away your days. All of these things need to be considered when you you are thinking about and planning out your personal finances including your credit card debt.
Friday, May 3, 2013
Understanding Cash Flow
Cash flow involves money going in and out of business (on a regular basis). This is often a hard task, because it is often ignored. It is almost as if we go into business wishing and hoping our business makes money. In reality it takes careful planning, hard work and making the hard decisions.
How much cash do you currently have in your business? How much is owed to you (accounts receivable)? How much is overdue? How many accounts is 60 or do days past due? If you don't know this information you could be in serious trouble and not even know it.
How much do you owe? Are your expenses higher than your revenue? If so it's time to make more money and cut expenses. Small business owners often have expenses that are way too high. Expenses should be monitored regularly. Here are some tips to help improve your cash flow:
· Pay your bills on time.
· Get a line of credit before you need it.
· Use credit wisely.
· Don't waste money on inventory you won't need for weeks or month from now.
· Rent a space out to someone else in your store or office or warehouse and add this to your cash flow.
· Upsell and cross sell every customer.
In my opinion cash flow is one of the keys to your business success. It is one that is often overlooked. New Business Owners often go into business without enough money to stay in business (or market their business) or on the other extreme buying expensive equipment or things you don't need. Cash flow management requires careful attention, monitoring and constant scrutiny of each and every expense.
This is often a hard task, because it is often ignored. It is almost as if we go into business wishing and hoping our business makes money. In reality it takes careful planning, hard work and making the right decisions.How much cash do you currently have in your business? How much is owed to you (accounts receivable)? How much is overdue? How many accounts is 60 or do days past due? If you don't know this information you could be in serious trouble and not even know it.
How much do you owe? Are your expenses higher than your revenue? If so it's time to make more money and cut expenses. Small business owners often have expenses that are way too high. Expenses should be monitored regularly. Here are some tips to help improve your cash flow:
Pay your bills on time.
Get a line of credit before you need it.
Use credit wisely.
Don't waste money on inventory you won't need for weeks or month from now.
Rent a space out to someone else in your store or office or warehouse and add this to your cash flow.
Upsell and cross sell every customer.
In my opinion cash flow is one of the keys to your business success. It is one that is often overlooked. New Business Owners often go into business without enough money to stay in business (or market their business) or on the other extreme buying expensive equipment or things you don't need. Cash flow management requires careful attention, monitoring and constant scrutiny of each and every expense.
How much cash do you currently have in your business? How much is owed to you (accounts receivable)? How much is overdue? How many accounts is 60 or do days past due? If you don't know this information you could be in serious trouble and not even know it.
How much do you owe? Are your expenses higher than your revenue? If so it's time to make more money and cut expenses. Small business owners often have expenses that are way too high. Expenses should be monitored regularly. Here are some tips to help improve your cash flow:
· Pay your bills on time.
· Get a line of credit before you need it.
· Use credit wisely.
· Don't waste money on inventory you won't need for weeks or month from now.
· Rent a space out to someone else in your store or office or warehouse and add this to your cash flow.
· Upsell and cross sell every customer.
In my opinion cash flow is one of the keys to your business success. It is one that is often overlooked. New Business Owners often go into business without enough money to stay in business (or market their business) or on the other extreme buying expensive equipment or things you don't need. Cash flow management requires careful attention, monitoring and constant scrutiny of each and every expense.
This is often a hard task, because it is often ignored. It is almost as if we go into business wishing and hoping our business makes money. In reality it takes careful planning, hard work and making the right decisions.How much cash do you currently have in your business? How much is owed to you (accounts receivable)? How much is overdue? How many accounts is 60 or do days past due? If you don't know this information you could be in serious trouble and not even know it.
How much do you owe? Are your expenses higher than your revenue? If so it's time to make more money and cut expenses. Small business owners often have expenses that are way too high. Expenses should be monitored regularly. Here are some tips to help improve your cash flow:
Pay your bills on time.
Get a line of credit before you need it.
Use credit wisely.
Don't waste money on inventory you won't need for weeks or month from now.
Rent a space out to someone else in your store or office or warehouse and add this to your cash flow.
Upsell and cross sell every customer.
In my opinion cash flow is one of the keys to your business success. It is one that is often overlooked. New Business Owners often go into business without enough money to stay in business (or market their business) or on the other extreme buying expensive equipment or things you don't need. Cash flow management requires careful attention, monitoring and constant scrutiny of each and every expense.
Managing Cash Flow
Effectively managing the cash flow of your business is really about protecting your bottom line. Turning a profit is great but only if you see the cold hard cash that those paper profits are supposed to be bringing in. If to many customers fail to pay you or pay you late on a consistent basis then your business could land itself in serious trouble without you being aware of how bad the downward spiral really was.
Forward thinking entrepreneurs are acting to protect and even grow their businesses. But this means they are protecting their greatest asset. Cash in the bank. Successful entrepreneurs and growth businesses understand that there is a need especially in rough economic times to protect what they have. Otherwise they may find themselves turning a good profit on their goods or services, but they simply don't get enough money in quickly enough to cover all the money going out of the business to pay for materials, stock, staff and all the other costs of running the business.
The flow of cash into and out of your business is of even greater concern to start up businesses as they are in the position of having to also grow a customer base. This means that a great deal more money will be going out the door than is coming in. With the economy being the way it is, managing and monitoring cash flow is definitely a priority for any business because you don't know what's coming in the door at any given time. You can find your cash levels fluctuating wildly.
The key to managing your cash levels is not to let your debtors get out of hand. Understand your monthly income and expenses. Learn to anticipate and avoid cash problems. Discuss with your banker our accountant how to build working capital reserves. A company may have excess cash but be unprofitable. A company may be profitable but lack cash. You want to be profitable and have that cash as well.
The Solution is to keep cash flow plans up to date. Make sure cash flow plans are realistic. Allow headroom in your cash requirements to counter unexpected variances. Be aware of your current cash position, forecasts and bear in mind potential fluctuations. Closely manage your stock and debtors to minimize needs for working capital. And manage your supply chain to gain maximum credit. Talk to creditors early if you need to extend. The bottom line is that you need to control your cash flow and not be at its mercy.
Forward thinking entrepreneurs are acting to protect and even grow their businesses. But this means they are protecting their greatest asset. Cash in the bank. Successful entrepreneurs and growth businesses understand that there is a need especially in rough economic times to protect what they have. Otherwise they may find themselves turning a good profit on their goods or services, but they simply don't get enough money in quickly enough to cover all the money going out of the business to pay for materials, stock, staff and all the other costs of running the business.
The flow of cash into and out of your business is of even greater concern to start up businesses as they are in the position of having to also grow a customer base. This means that a great deal more money will be going out the door than is coming in. With the economy being the way it is, managing and monitoring cash flow is definitely a priority for any business because you don't know what's coming in the door at any given time. You can find your cash levels fluctuating wildly.
The key to managing your cash levels is not to let your debtors get out of hand. Understand your monthly income and expenses. Learn to anticipate and avoid cash problems. Discuss with your banker our accountant how to build working capital reserves. A company may have excess cash but be unprofitable. A company may be profitable but lack cash. You want to be profitable and have that cash as well.
The Solution is to keep cash flow plans up to date. Make sure cash flow plans are realistic. Allow headroom in your cash requirements to counter unexpected variances. Be aware of your current cash position, forecasts and bear in mind potential fluctuations. Closely manage your stock and debtors to minimize needs for working capital. And manage your supply chain to gain maximum credit. Talk to creditors early if you need to extend. The bottom line is that you need to control your cash flow and not be at its mercy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)