DBS Bank plans to hire over 650 financial planning advisors by end 2021

By Edil Corneille

Today, DBS Bank announced plans to double the recruitment of financial planning advisors this year. The bank aims to hire more than 650 wealth planning managers and insurance consultants by end-2021.

The insurance consultant role by DBS is newly created and is supported by financial planning solutions provider Manulife Singapore.

Brandon Lam, Singapore Head of DBS Financial Solutions Management Group said, “…The past year has also brought home the importance of being financially prepared: a 2020 DBS NAV Financial Health Series report showed that 64% of individuals who experienced a significant fall in income had less than three months of emergency funds. We hope this initiative can help pave the way for more innovations to come in the financial services space, as we continue to pursue our aim of providing financial planning for all.”

The bank has seen a steady rise in demand for financial and retirement planning and solutions over the past few years, which further picked up in 2020 with the onset of COVID-19 and the introduction of SGFinDex, a public-private open banking initiative. Post SGFinDex’s rollout on 7 December 2020, DBS NAV Planner, the bank’s hyper-personalised financial and retirement planning solution, saw a surge in new visitors, with 200,000 trying DBS NAV Planner for the first time in December 2020. Between April and December 2020, customer interest in protection surged, with the protection feature of DBS NAV Planner attracting more than 300,000 visits. The solution has now passed a key milestone, hitting 2 million users since its introduction in April 2020. Retail investment also hit a high in 2020 – investment and trading activities tripled compared to 2019.

Jonathan Yen, Chief Bancassurance Officer of Manulife Asia said, “The events of the past year have revolutionised traditional ways of working and accelerated digital adoption. We’ve witnessed first-hand that the way customers want to interact with us is changing and we need to keep pace with that. Partnering with DBS to introduce these new roles will further add to our successful partnership and help us serve the evolving needs of our customers.”

The consultants will have access to a wide range of resources from DBS and Manulife to help them better meet customers’ financial planning needs. This includes the use of financial planning tools; intensive training programmes that ensure consultants uphold and adhere to the same stringent consumer protection standards applicable to the bank’s employees; the ability to leverage DBS’ broad customer base; and access to DBS meeting spaces in branches. Consultants will be able to leverage insights from DBS NAV Planner, with the customer’s consent. With DBS NAV Planner’s AI/ML capabilities and SGFinDex integration, consultants will gain valuable and comprehensive insights on their customer’s finances and be better equipped to counsel customers on their financial planning needs holistically.