Less crowded trading floors, facial recognition systems and split work areas could all become routine for bankers in Singapore as the city-state readies for office life in a post-COVID-19 world.
Financial institutions in the city-state should use more no-touch technology, allow more space for each employee and adopt split teams on trading floors once staff return after the COVID-19 pandemic, recommendations from a study commissioned by the city-state’s Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and released yesterday said.
Lenders are being encouraged to use hot-desking, motion detectors, temperature and face-mask detection screening, and improved ventilation to avoid potential contamination, the report said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Staff should be allowed to work from satellite offices or branches in addition to companies’ main headquarters, it said.
Such measures “are imperative to strike a balance between workplace safety and minimizing disruption to business operations,” said the study, which was carried out by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield PLC and some of Singapore’s biggest banks.
With more than 200 financial institutions operating in Singapore, the city-state is looking at how to get staff back to the office after they have spent more than one year juggling working from home and family life.
The city-state has taken a cautious approach to returning staff to offices even as infection rates remain low.
The recommendations from Singapore envision a workplace that is geared to switch quickly to a “pandemic-on” mode so that companies can react to pandemics.
“MAS encourages our financial institutions to consider the recommended strategies in the Playbook to enhance safety and resiliency in the workplace,” MAS Deputy Managing Director Ong Chong Tee (王宗智) said in a statement. “This will be helpful to be well prepared for any situations in future that may require safe distancing and work-from-home arrangements.”
The report also compares Singapore’s approach in managing the pandemic with other major financial hubs, such as Hong Kong, Shanghai, London, New York and Sydney.
It found that the density of its offices is comparable to Sydney, with an average 7.4m2 to 11m2 per seat. That is more spacious than in Hong Kong, where it is 3.7m2 to 9m2.
How financial institutions adapt to a post-COVID-19 world has the potential to reshape business districts in hubs around the world.
The DBS Foundation yesterday announced the launch of two flagship programs, “Silver Motion” and “Happier Caregiver, Healthier Seniors,” in partnership with CCILU Ltd, Hondao Senior Citizens’ Welfare Foundation and the Garden of Hope Foundation to help Taiwan face the challenges of a rapidly aging population. The foundation said it would invest S$4.91 million (US$3.8 million) over three years to foster inclusion and resilience in an aging society. “Aging may bring challenges, but it also brings opportunities. With many Asian markets rapidly becoming super-aged, the DBS Foundation is working with a regional ecosystem of like-minded partners across the private, public and people sectors
BREAKTHROUGH TECH: Powertech expects its fan-out PLP system to become mainstream, saying it can offer three-times greater production throughput Chip packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) plans to more than double its capital expenditures next year to more than NT$40 billion (US$1.31 billion) as demand for its new panel-level packaging (PLP) technology, primarily used in chips for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, has greatly exceeded what it can supply. A significant portion of the budget, about US$1 billion, would be earmarked for fan-out PLP technology, Powertech told investors yesterday. Its heavy investment in fan-out PLP technology over the past 10 years is expected to bear fruit in 2027 after the technology enters volume production, it said, adding that the tech would
YEAR-END BOOST: The holiday shopping season in the US and Europe, combined with rising demand for AI applications, is expected to drive exports to a new high, the NDC said Taiwan’s business climate monitor improved last month, transitioning from steady growth for the first time in five months, as robust global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and new iPhone shipments boosted exports and corporate sales, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. The council uses a five-color system to measure the nation’s economic state, with “green” indicating steady growth, “red” suggesting a boom and “blue” reflecting a recession. “Yellow-red” and “yellow-blue” suggest a transition to a stronger or weaker condition. The total score of the monitor’s composite index rose to 35 points from a revised 31 in August, ending a four-month
RUN IT BACK: A succesful first project working with hyperscalers to design chips encouraged MediaTek to start a second project, aiming to hit stride in 2028 MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it is engaging a second hyperscaler to help design artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators used in data centers following a similar project expected to generate revenue streams soon. The first AI accelerator project is to bring in US$1 billion revenue next year and several billion US dollars more in 2027, MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told a virtual investor conference yesterday. The second AI accelerator project is expected to contribute to revenue beginning in 2028, Tsai said. MediaTek yesterday raised its revenue forecast for the global AI accelerator used
RSS