Nurturing Sustainable Talent Pipeline in the Capital Market

The SC advocates for a proactive approach to nurturing talent that not only meets current demands but also anticipates future challenges in the capital markets. Strategies and initiatives focus on identifying future talent needs, fostering diversity and inclusion and enhancing educational partnerships.

investED

Launched by Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim in June 2023, the investED Leadership Programme helps ensure a sustainable talent pipeline in catering for the evolving needs of Malaysia’s capital market.

This SC-led initiative is notably the first ever collaboration between the SC, MOF, MOHE, capital market industry and universities. The investED Leadership Programme is open to Malaysian graduates from all disciplines. The first cohort of 169 candidates graduated in February 2024 with more than 65% of them being offered positions with their respective host organisations.

The second cohort of the investED Leadership Programme commenced on 1 August 2024 where trainees began a one-month comprehensive classroom training at the Asia School of Business (ASB). This was followed with a six-month on-the-job experience with leading industry partners, beginning 1 September 2024.

The second cohort saw 1,271 applications, of which 305 applicants were shortlisted for interviews. At the end of the recruitment cycle, 268 offers were made and on 1 August 2024, 199 trainees reported for the one-month comprehensive classroom training at ASB. Most of the trainees that were successfully recruited for the second cohort were of Finance, Business Administration, Economics, Accounting and Data and Information Technology majors.

In 2024, the investED programme was implemented in partnership with a wider array of organisations including investment banks, stockbroking firms, fund management companies, ECF platforms, advisory services and audit firms. A total of 47 organisations hosted the investED trainees.

Since its inception until end 2024, investED has also engaged 110,668 university students via 13 career fairs and 47 career talks nationwide. It plans to engage more students, universities and partner firms in 2025 with aspirations to host 200 trainees.

FIKRA ACE

The SC has taken various initiatives to enhance the ICM ecosystem, one of which is the SC’s Islamic fintech accelerator programme, ‘FIKRA’ which was launched in 2021. In continuation of that, the SC is now organising FIKRA ACE, a three-year initiative that aims to enhance the ICM ecosystem by facilitating the development of Islamic fintech through a structured approach. FIKRA ACE is an Islamic fintech programme consisting of the following:

Accelerator – A programme supporting startups in developing Shariah-compliant fintech solutions.
Circle – A networking forum to connect fintech innovators, Islamic finance professionals, and other ecosystem participants.
Excel – A collaboration initiative focusing on capacity-building through partnerships with universities and research institutions.

FIKRA ACE aims to nurture innovation, talent and build capacity to provide further catalyst in expanding and broadening of Islamic capital market offerings for continued growth. It also reflects the SC’s commitment to enhance Islamic fintech within the Islamic capital market ecosystem and elevate the value proposition of Islamic finance that has been made more efficient with the advent of technology such as mobilising wealth to the underserved segments.

FIKRA ACE Accelerator

The FIKRA ACE Accelerator Cohort 2024 was launched in July 2024. The programme includes eight weeks of intensive training encompassing mentorship, market access support, and regulatory guidance, with partners such as NEXEA, MDEC, and the Islamic Development Bank contributing to the cohort’s success.

The SC received 828 applications and 126 submissions from local and international based fintech startups. Of this number, 24 startups offering various solutions were selected as participants of FIKRA ACE Accelerator Cohort 2024 with 10 finalists selected to showcase their innovations at the SCxSC Fintech Summit in October 2024.

FIKRA ACE Circle

The SC collaborated with Islamic Finance News and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation to organise the FIKRAtech Roundtable in London on 4 September 2024.

The event aimed to stimulate discussions, experience sharing, and exploration of ideas and solutions for advancing the Islamic capital market through financial technology. It was attended by about 40 participants from the Malaysian and UK fintech ecosystem. The discussion areas included embedding Maqasid al- Shariah and challenges in accessing capital for fintech start-ups as well as an evolutionary versus a revolutionary approach in growing Islamic fintech.

FIKRA ACE Excel

The SC collaborated with Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Computer Science Student Society to host the Varsity Hackathon (VHACK). VHACK, was the inaugural event of the FIKRA ACE Excel and seeks to grow the fintech talent pipeline, stimulate students’ creativity and critical thinking, and develop digital skills among students and young professionals, particularly in the Islamic fintech space.

The programme, launched in February 2024, received an overwhelming response of over 900 applications from 90 higher learning institutions around the world. On the final pitching day that was held at USM in Penang, 10 teams from multiple public and private universities were crowned winners.

The winners and participants showcased their ability to assimilate technical knowledge into real-life applications empowered by technology, with proposed solutions ranging from interactive educational platforms, investment and debt management apps to improve financial literacy to tech-powered crops management solutions.

Mitigating Systemic Risks And Promoting Financial Stability

Enhanced Risk Governance Framework

In 2021, the SC-wide risk governance framework was enhanced as part of an overall initiative to have an effective integrated and predictive risk surveillance to maintain regulatory agility.

The structured risk governance framework integrated the wider spectrum of risks such as technology, cyber and conduct risk at the SC’s Systemic Risk Oversight Committee (SROC) and Accounting, Market and Corporate Surveillance Committee (ACMS).

Intensified surveillance

The SC continued to intensify its surveillance of systemic risk to maintain market resilience and stability. Regular SROC engagements were held to deliberate concerns emanating from various segments across the capital market. Domestic equity and bond market, foreign fund flows and trade participation continued to be monitored closely for potential stress points.

In addition, measures and economic stimulus packages introduced by the government to weather the impact of COVID-19, market trading conduct and the financial position of listed companies were among the focus areas for discussion.

Thematic assessments

The SC also conducted thematic assessments covering investors’ fund flows, the position of firms, and policy decisions to ascertain the possible impact on the capital market. In 2021, the SC reviewed and enhanced its crisis indicators on potential emerging risks in the
capital market.

The enhanced crisis indicators provided a reference point for escalation to SROC when the identified indicators and triggers materialised and ensured prompt response to manage and prevent any issues of concern that might lead to a systemic crisis.

Joint regulatory discussions

In 2021, the SC conducted frequent joint regulatory discussions with other authorities such as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and Labuan Financial Services Authority (Labuan FSA) to identify systemic risk concern areas within the financial and capital markets in Malaysia.

Monitoring of various components of the capital market

The SC continued its efforts to undertake a methodological and integrated approach to ensure any potential systemic risk was being monitored, mitigated, or managed. Figure 1 highlights the findings from the following risk assessments on the various components of the capital market.