Factual Local Bank Salaries - DBS , UOB , OCBC (A commoner climbing up the ranks)

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Any idea how much does an analyst with about 1-2 years exp earn in local bank FO?
Not IB but S&T.

I'm not in local bank. Fresh in s&t, 10k base per month.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

no wonder i got into ocbc.. my looks cui hehe

Speaking of looks, there's a big difference between the quality of girls in MO/FO vs BO

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi all very interesting discussions and views. I am a private uni grad (SIM-UOL) in big 4 audit close to 1 year now. I got in through networking/cold-emails for an internship & a conversion as I knew that was my best chance. It helps that I have very good CCAs records & leadership skills. I would like to ask how do I go into a MO/FO BBs/local/foreign banks? Big 4 audit doesn't teach much, it's menial work. I know being from a private uni is quite disadvantage in Singapore but I am just trying to be sincere, honest & hardworking to have a rewarding career. Appreciate any honest insights and views. Thank you.

You have 2 choices.

1) Since you have <2 years of work experience, try applying for banking graduate programmes and hope they notice you for your Big 4 experience.

2) Ask your manager for possible transfer to Financial Services audit.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Happen to chance upon this forum. Very interesting information and discussion. Thought I will throw in my views as well, hopefully freshies will not make similar mistakes some of my peers made when they graduated from uni. I have worked in the financial industry about 7 years, moved around different foreign banks and spent some time in HK as well, and fortunately not in BO - thanks to my internship experience in a local bank ops during uni time, it helped steer my career away from Ops / BO, almost went into this function like many other local grads.

Singapore is like support centre hub, so many of the bank jobs tend to be more ops / BO related, and there are lesser FO opp cuz we are not like HK with very active IPO / debt market, so it is very easy to land yourself in Ops / BO in SG.

Like what some people said, do not join BO when you are a fresh grad (especially if your ultimate goal is to get out of BO and into other functions), no matter it is BB or local bank or what not, once in BO, it is close to impossible to get out of the BO no matter where you go. Your salary will remain depressed and much lower than other functions. BO is also unfortunately where all the cuts tend to go too as these functions tend to be more easily replaced or streamlined with automation and AI etc. With the rapid development in AI / digitization in banking, it will be too complacent for any of us to say our jobs will nt be replaced by machines in the near future. But it is a double whammy for BO. Low salary + high risk of job cuts....

And anyway banking is going sunset, if you can, consider other industries like tech while it is not too late. For me, i am kinda stuck in banking, having already spent sizable amt of time in this industry, part of me wish that i have the ability to acquire new knowledge and jump into another industry, but i cannt stand going thru the study, start career anew as a junior staff and then move up....

Yep BO is a dead end. Even tech side. Local banks continue to use very dated legacy systems, so most of the tech skills you pick up will be pretty useless, unless you're looking to jump to another local bank. If you are a fresh grad eager to apply your newly-acquired Python skills, you will be sorely disappointed. Most of the programming languages local banks use for their systems and software were born before you, and so do not reflect current best practices in programming. Moreover, these languages are highly obscure and closed-source, making them useless for anything else and consequently not valued by the market. To top it all off, local banks tend not to develop their own banking systems in-house. Instead, they outsource it to IT vendors. So in all likelihood, you will end up as a glorified IT vendor manager.

Ops side is no better. Lots of manual processing work. Filled with boomers as well. That generation's mindset is dominated by a focus on making an honest living through hard work, and not so much about developing skills. However, the reality is that today's economy is a skills-based one. Data entry and manual checking are not skills you want to be developing.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yep BO is a dead end. Even tech side. Local banks continue to use very dated legacy systems, so most of the tech skills you pick up will be pretty useless, unless you're looking to jump to another local bank. If you are a fresh grad eager to apply your newly-acquired Python skills, you will be sorely disappointed. Most of the programming languages local banks use for their systems and software were born before you, and so do not reflect current best practices in programming. Moreover, these languages are highly obscure and closed-source, making them useless for anything else and consequently not valued by the market. To top it all off, local banks tend not to develop their own banking systems in-house. Instead, they outsource it to IT vendors. So in all likelihood, you will end up as a glorified IT vendor manager.

Ops side is no better. Lots of manual processing work. Filled with boomers as well. That generation's mindset is dominated by a focus on making an honest living through hard work, and not so much about developing skills. However, the reality is that today's economy is a skills-based one. Data entry and manual checking are not skills you want to be developing.

hais sucks then, how? now cant find job lei. i will be starting in a ops role soon in some grad program. gg sia, the thing is i didnt study finance, but some chapalang business degree.

how would i be able to transit into back/front? was thinking about going for masters in finance, but i cant seem to justify the cost. damn expensive sia even for local.

55k nus, 45k smu - somemore now the job market is bad. so should i just take the job first?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

hais sucks then, how? now cant find job lei. i will be starting in a ops role soon in some grad program. gg sia, the thing is i didnt study finance, but some chapalang business degree.

how would i be able to transit into back/front? was thinking about going for masters in finance, but i cant seem to justify the cost. damn expensive sia even for local.

55k nus, 45k smu - somemore now the job market is bad. so should i just take the job first?

Which bank and how much you have been offered?

If it’s me I will not take. OPS easy replaceable with digital transformation. It’s a dead end. Experience also not transferable.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Which bank and how much you have been offered?

If it’s me I will not take. OPS easy replaceable with digital transformation. It’s a dead end. Experience also not transferable.

Most of not all “traditional” ops work are now being outsourced to places which are cheaper.

For BBs, ops grad scheme are very different now - you’re very focused on delivering high priority transformation projects (workflow automation, data analytics automation, tech/general strategy etc). So essentially, you’re the one driving the transformation.

At the end of the day, it all depends on your attitude and willingness to learn & future proof yourself.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Most of not all “traditional” ops work are now being outsourced to places which are cheaper.

For BBs, ops grad scheme are very different now - you’re very focused on delivering high priority transformation projects (workflow automation, data analytics automation, tech/general strategy etc). So essentially, you’re the one driving the transformation.

At the end of the day, it all depends on your attitude and willingness to learn & future proof yourself.

Yes BBs' ops tend to be more focused on delivering value through transformation. However this thread is about the 3 local banks, and the ops depts in all 3 are heavily focused on 'traditional' ops. Even their grad schemes (DBS GA and OCBC GTP) are not exempt. Many fresh grads in local bank ops end up doing very manual and low value-added tasks that are at high risk of being disrupted. Many of them are lured by the decent pay, but imo that's being very short-sighted. If I'm a fresh grad, I'd rather take up one of those SGUnited traineeships in a tech firm to pick up some real tech skills and position myself for a well-paying tech job with good progression and career prospects than languish in a local bank's tech dept. It is well-known that local tech talent avoid local banks. Consequently, the fresh grad programmes of these banks are filled with non-CS grads as they have great difficulty attracting CS grads. Another consequence is that the tech depts are filled with foreign talent (no prizes for guessing the number 1 nationality). Even Prof Ben Leong of NUS advises fresh grads against doing tech at a local bank. All in all, be it ops or tech, unless you're about to retire, avoid local bank BO at all cost.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yes BBs' ops tend to be more focused on delivering value through transformation. However this thread is about the 3 local banks, and the ops depts in all 3 are heavily focused on 'traditional' ops. Even their grad schemes (DBS GA and OCBC GTP) are not exempt. Many fresh grads in local bank ops end up doing very manual and low value-added tasks that are at high risk of being disrupted. Many of them are lured by the decent pay, but imo that's being very short-sighted. If I'm a fresh grad, I'd rather take up one of those SGUnited traineeships in a tech firm to pick up some real tech skills and position myself for a well-paying tech job with good progression and career prospects than languish in a local bank's tech dept. It is well-known that local tech talent avoid local banks. Consequently, the fresh grad programmes of these banks are filled with non-CS grads as they have great difficulty attracting CS grads. Another consequence is that the tech depts are filled with foreign talent (no prizes for guessing the number 1 nationality). Even Prof Ben Leong of NUS advises fresh grads against doing tech at a local bank. All in all, be it ops or tech, unless you're about to retire, avoid local bank BO at all cost.

Not too sure about local banks tbf

But some MO/BO in BBs are definitely not a bad place to start. Some are no longer looking at other FS companies as their competitors, but are gradually looking at tech/fintech companies as their competitors instead.

wow so many successful people here...while im a fresh grad w second upper in business local uni just trying to start a banking career with no opportunities haiz