The Finance Associate Management Scheme (FAMS) is a talent development initiative supported by the Financial Sector Development Fund (FSDF). Its objective is to increase opportunities for Singapore Citizens (SCs) to be groomed through structured talent development programmes that can position them well for specialist and leadership roles in the financial services industry.

Under FAMS, FSDF will co-fund salary costs incurred by Financial Institutions (FIs) in the hiring and training of SCs under these talent development programmes.

MAS is in the midst of reviewing the support to enhance the job readiness of fresh graduates and will announce any changes to the scheme next year.

Applicants

• Financial Institutions based in Singapore^[1]

Programme participants

• Recent graduates^[2] or cross-sector convertees^[3] who are SCs

Programme design

• Programme duration must be at least 6 months to ensure that the hires are sufficiently trained.
  
  
• Programmes will be evaluated based on the following components:
  • Number of job rotations, making up a least 50% of total programme duration

    – For programmes under priority areas ^[6], rotations must be within the priority area

    – For other programmes rotations can be within or across functions

  • Number of hours of structured training (e.g., classroom training, leadership training, e-learning); and
  • Number of mentorship sessions.
    
    

• Programmes will be considered more favourably if it:

  • Targets hiring and training in priority areas;
  • Incorporates international exposure component, e.g., rotations to international-facing functions based in Singapore or rotations to overseas offices for job shadowing; and
  • Is a new programme set-up (i.e., FI is seeking funding for the first cohort of hires into the programme)
    
    
• Programmes funded under FAMS previously will not be considered if there was high attrition rate or substantial hiring shortfall in the most recent cohort that completed the programme.
  • Applicant is required to address weaknesses or gaps in the programme design and/or hiring projections to be considered for funding.
    
    
• Workforce size of the applicant will be taken into consideration in evaluating programmes.
  

Funding parameters

• Funding will be provided for all incremental SCs hired by the FI, up to the total number of incremental hires committed for the year.
  • Incremental SCs refer to SCs hired above the hiring baseline ^[5], which is determined by the average annual SC hired of the same programme in the preceding 5 years.
    
• Only incremental SC hires who complete at least 90% of the programme duration will be funded.

Funding levels

• Programmes ^[4] in the following priority areas will be funded based on $2,000 per SC per month, capped at 24 months:
  

  ​PA1 - Portfolio management
  PA2 - Private banking and wealth management (including family office advisory) ^[6]
  PA 3 - Research, trading and investment strategy
  PA 4 - Actuarial
  PA 5 - Reinsurance and specialty insurance
  PA 6 - Green finance
  PA 7 - Technology, digital and data analytics

  Please see examples of each PA in the footnote ^[6] below.
  
  To qualify as a programme under FAMS’ priority area,

  1. At least two-third of the duration of the programme must be spent on rotations in the priority area(s); remaining duration of the rotations outside of priority areas must be in roles that are relevant to, or will equip SC hires with knowledge and skills in the priority area(s); and

  2. SC hires will be placed in roles within priority area(s) at the end of the programme.
  

• Programmes in all other areas will be funded based on $1,000 per SC per month, capped at 24 months.
  
  
• Programmes with at least 3 months of overseas job rotation will be funded an additional S$5,000 per SC per month, capped at 6 months.

   

  Funding cap

• $500,000 for each FI group^[7] for all SC hires committed per calendar year.

Applications that fulfil all eligibility criteria will be evaluated. Please refer to Section 2 “Eligibility” for details on programmes that will be considered more favourably. 

A one-time claims submission for approved applications shall be submitted by the FI within 3 months upon the cohort completion of the programme.

Please submit claims using the claims forms provided in the Letter of Offer.

Applications are to be submitted within the annual application window (see below), or prior to the programme commencement (whichever is earlier).

Applications submitted on or after the commencement of the programme, or outside of the application window period, will strictly not be entertained.