A lot of local bank bashing going on in this forum but it's true that local banks have high starting pay. For the reason which you said, without high pay it's not easy for them to attract talent. Local bank culture is very risk-averse and bureaucratic, cannot compare with the vibrancy and dynamism of the likes of Sea, Grab and fintechs all of which have much younger demographics. Can't compete with big international banks like bofa jp, gs as well. End up many local uni grads use local bank merely as a stepping stone. Those that remain tend to be the unambitious, mediocre or just started family types.