TAIWANESE banks and financial holding companies, such as Fubon and E.Sun, are looking to recruit employees with technology backgrounds for their management associate programmes. However, due to the increasing demand and limited pool of tech talents, the battle for talent with only intensify.

“In the past, many IT graduates were less inclined to work in the financial industry, but in the last few years the fintech trend has helped break the stereotypes surrounding the finance industry ,” says Joyce Chen, executive vice president & chief human resources officer at Fubon Financial Holding Co tells. “We have seen more talents with engineering, computer science, math, statistics, or actuarial science backgrounds joining the financial industry.”

Based on incomplete statistics from The Asset, on average, IT and data analysis specialists accounted for only around 10% of the workforce in Taiwanese banks. However, most banks expect this to increase in the next few years. The percentage is, as expected, much lower than that of Chinese fintech companies, such as Ant Financial and WeBank. In both companies, more than half the workforce has an IT background.

“In terms of IT talents, we are not only competing with our peers in Taiwan, but also with internet companies,” says Alan Lee Wei Cheng, president and CEO of Cathay United Bank. “We must create an environment – not only the salary – but also the environment and future,” he stresses, “so we can attract people to join us. But it is still challenging because there are limited IT talents in Taiwan.”

E.Sun Bank CEO Joseph Huang agrees. “We acquired 20 technology MAs, most of them also got offers from technology companies. So, we just found that we are focusing on talents from diversified backgrounds,” says Huang.

On top of fresh graduates, banks are also looking to invite technology talents for different management levels. “Many people assume that companies need to look for IT talents for fintech development. Actually, that’s not always true, because sometimes we need innovative thinkers who can bring new product ideas. And those talents can also be the marketing and design people,” says Chen.

As technology thrives in mainland China, leading technology companies such as Alibaba and Tencent have also become favourite employers for young Taiwanese talent. Aside the high salary – which could be as much as five times the average salary in Taiwan – and benefits such as housing allowance, their popularity also drives overseas talents to join other Chinese technology leaders.

Whether Taiwanese banks can successfully complete their upgrades and transitions, only time will tell. But there is no doubt that the ones who come out on top will be the ones who adjust with this market trend.

“We believe that the fintech revolution will continuously change the competitive landscape in Taiwan,” says Lee. “Whichever bank is ready to adapt to the changes, will gain the market share.”

The story is an extract from The 6th annual Taiwan report, which will feature in the October edition of The Asset magazine. Please contact us for more details on obtaining a subscription.