By Goh Chin Lian

Banking veteran Christine Lim received six new graduates as trainees last year, but one caught her eye.

Mr Low Hang Wei, 25, delivered a project to improve her department's information sharing system in just one month, when she had expected him to take two.

'He's focused, independent and pro-active in raising questions and trying to understand what he has to do,' said Ms Lim, 52, an assistant vice-president with OCBC Bank who has been in the banking industry for 28 years.

So when a permanent position came up in the department, she immediately offered it to Mr Low, who has a bachelor's degree in banking and finance from the Nanyang Technological University.

He was hired as an associate in October last year, just three months into his year-long traineeship.

Was Ms Lim not concerned about forgoing the government subsidy of $1,500 a month for trainees?

'We were just focusing on retaining talent,' she said.

'Delaying may risk his being offered a permanent post elsewhere and it's not easy to recruit someone who fits into the role.'

She did not think the other trainees would be demoralised by the permanent job offer to Mr Low.

'It motivates the others to work harder so they can be converted to permanent staff,' she added.

Mr Low is one of a handful of trainees whom OCBC Bank has hired as permanent employees.

The bank has more than 70 trainees under the Monetary Authority of Singapore's Finance Graduate Immersion Programme, which is part of the Manpower Ministry's Professional Skills Programme Traineeships.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.