Yes tech in local bank is bad as well. Firstly, the systems in use are mostly legacy systems that have existed since the 20th century. Such systems are archaic, have their own scripts and languages and are not open source. What this means is that whatever you learn about these systems will not be useful in almost any other company (except for other companies that use the same system, which is at most 2,
UOB and DBS). Secondly, even if the local banks want to power ahead with digitisation and innovation, they are hamstrung by
MAS regulations, which impose the highest levels of cyber security. While most companies are free to host their data online through cutting edge cloud services such as AWS or Microsoft Azure, I'm quite sure local banks are not free to do so, as customer banking details are deemed far too sensitive to be sitting in some server room in a foreign country, to which
MAS,
SPF and the banks themselves have no physical access. This is just one example of banking regulations stifling digital innovation. If you want more examples, you may want to check out Jack Ma's rant against the Chinese banks. The same gripes can be levelled at our local banks. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not taking his side, or any side. I'm simply making the point that digital transformation is hampered by regulations and cybersecurity concerns in a local bank. Thirdly, contrary to your statement, banks (at least the local banks) do not need to compete for top tech talent, because most of their IT systems are not developed in-house. They only need managers who can manage the vendors who develop the systems. Lastly, even if banks wished to hire quality tech talent, they are not paying enough and the work is unattractive and boring. When GTP 2021 starts, take a look around you and see how many tech GTs graduated from
NUS/
NTU com science. Likely 0. As a CS grad, a local bank would be one of the worst places to work in. And 4.6k is not nearly enough to attract a local CS grad. I don't think
OCBC, DBS or
UOB have managed to hire a single local uni CS grad through their fresh grad programmes in the last few years, and with demand for such talent continuing to heat up, their failure to attract such talent would likely continue.