The next STEP in career journey for Singapore’s mid-career professionals 

Citi Singapore has announced a new two-year programme for mid-career professionals to transition into the bank’s Markets business. Known as the Strategic Training for Experienced Professionals (STEP) Programme, this pilot programme for Asia-Pacific (APAC) aims to educate and train these diverse candidates, even those who have not worked in banking before.

The inaugural cohort has five participants with an average of five to seven years of prior working experience from a variety of industries, with almost half of them consisting of female employees.

“By hiring individuals without experience in banking, we also deepen our talent pool and provide access to someone who may have never considered or had the opportunity to pursue a career in banking,” said Gunjan Kalra, APAC Head of Corporate Sales and Solutions, Citi Markets.

The 24-month programme will provide these candidates with a structured learning journey, including eight weeks of comprehensive facilitator-led technical training to build a foundational understanding of banking and the markets, a one-week Professional Skills building programme at Citi’s New York Headquarters. This will give the participants an opportunity to meet their peers from all over the world and build a proper network. After being rotated across various desks in the Markets business for the next 20 months to gain practical experience, the candidates would ideally join one of the business units within the Markets business. 

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Devayani Tilak Sengupta, APAC Head of Talent, Learning and Diversity, Citi, called this new programme a reflection of Citi’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy, citing it as a demonstration of the organisation’s desire to elevate and develop local talent in Singapore and the markets Citi operates in.