The event was organised by The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) at its partner institution, PSB Academy Singapore to coincide with the UK MBA students' study tour to Malaysia and Singapore, and is part of the School's regular engagements with industry leaders to enable MBA students to gain insights that bridge theory and practice.
Entitled “Changing Financial Services Sector: New Landscape and New Skillsets Needed for Managers", it was part of the Nottingham University Business School Malaysia's two-day series of talks and panel discussions attended by MBA students from the Business Schools campuses in the United Kingdom,Malaysia, as well as those based at the PSB Academy.
“The financial services sector is currently undergoing a period of reduced profitability, liquidity and job security, and more disciplinary measures are being imposed on the sector due to higher volatility induced by market globalisation. As such, the sector is now aggressively looking for talents with new skillsets,” said Dr Lau Chee Kwong, Associate Professor of Accounting at UNMC, who also served as the session's moderator.
Datuk Yvonne Chia, former Group Managing Director of Hong Leong Bank Berhad and currently an independent non-executive director of Shell Refining Company (Federation of Malaya) Berhad and Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad, kicked off the event by presenting a critical analysis of the driving forces of change in the banking industry.
Datuk Chia pointed out that there has been an increase in customer activism, with sector players being more sales-oriented now. “The sector is also becoming more digital technology driven, and is adopting a significant use of big data. As a result, data analytics has become a strategic tool for businesses in the sector to differentiate themselves,” added Datuk Chia.
“However, with the increasing number of new and emerging industries, lenders are facing a problem whereby their managers may not have adequate expertise to evaluate the credit risk of such potential customers.”
From a regulatory perspective, Nik Mohd Hasyudeen Yusoff, Executive Director at the Securities Commission Malaysia and the Executive Chairman of the Audit Oversight Board, presented on the changes observed in the capital markets.
Among the panellists was The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus alumnus, Andre Khor who is the Finance Director/Country Controller, Shell Companies in Indonesia. In his presentation, Andre provided an insight on how the changes in the financial sector affect other industries, in particular the oil and gas trade.
The panellists emphasised the importance of business analytics as a new skill in the financial services sector, in particular, using analytics in market monitoring and surveillance.
“As these new skill sets are much wider in scope compared to the current conventional landscape, the financial services sector has begun to tap on new sources of required skills for their human resource needs, including the appointment of engineers, analytics experts and data miners,” said Nik Hasyudeen.
With the market place increasingly driven by digital technology, the panellists agreed that the area of data analytics is expected to become a strategic tool in the financial services sector.
Nik Nasyudeen and Andre Khor are members of NUBS Malaysia's Industry Advisory Board, which provides strategic advice to support the School's current work and future developments, as well as developing strong links with the business and policymakers to ensure the continuing relevance of the School's activities. Datuk Yvonne Chia is an Honorary Professor with the School of Economics at The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus.
More information on the MBA programme at NUBS Malaysia.
Information on MBA Preview for September 2015 Intake (Full time and Part-time).
UNMC's 15th Anniversary
One of the world's truly global universities, with campuses in Malaysia, the UK and China, 2015 marks the 15th year since setting up as UK's first full-fledged international campus in Malaysia and all three campuses continue to enrich the lives of students across the world through global education, ground-breaking research and community engagement.
