The bank says the programme - the first such under IDMA's TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) initiative - will groom 85 young professionals skilled in agile development, DevOps, information security and data analytics for the financial services sector.

James Loo, executive director, group human resources, DBS Bank says: “Banks of tomorrow will look very different from the ones today. In order for Singapore to maintain its competitive edge as a leading Asian financial hub, it is crucial that we focus on building a strong talent pool with the right technology and innovation skillsets. Partnering with IMDA to create these training programmes will present a valuable opportunity for the next generation of passionate digital bankers, as well as build a strong Singapore core of fintech professionals.”

The bank last month announced plans to invest SG$20 million over five years on a new 'digital curriculum' to educate its 10,000 Singapore employees on disruptive trends and emerging technologies that are reshaping financial services.

DBS, which likes to bill itself as a global 20,000 person startup, has been working hard at breeding an innovative culture at the bank, partnering staff with fintech startups in corporate hackathons and running agile development workshops in a 40,000 square foot 'learning centre', packed with new technological tools and training facilities.

The partnership with IDMA will complement the bank's other training programmes for raw recruits, including its 12-month Seed programme which gives IT and analytics graduates on-the-job training and assigned projects while being mentored by senior technology managers at DBS, and a Business Analytics Graduate Immersion Programme (bagip) that focuses on developing core analytical skills.

Each year, up to 150 DBS interns, new graduates and young professionals are also put through various training initiatives where they can be immersed in new technologies, a start-up culture, agile methodology and other digital working concepts, in addition to accelerated training, job rotations, networking sessions and mentoring from senior leaders.