By Fiona Chan

CITI Singapore will hire about 200 new graduates this year, taking advantage of a new government subsidy, the bank said yesterday.

Some of the new employees will be recruited under a scheme recently introduced by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), which has set aside $15 million to subsidise the pay of new graduates hired by the financial sector.

MAS said in March that it would foot part of the allowance given to these graduates to encourage banks and other financial institutions to continue hiring during the recession.

This is part of a wider government plan to increase internships and attachment opportunities across different sectors over the next one or two years.

Citi is the first bank that has announced hiring plans under the MAS scheme, although other banks have also expressed interest in participating.

The funding support from the MAS will last for one or two years, Citi said in a statement yesterday.

The bank has committed to hiring Singaporean graduates from local and foreign universities as well as from the polytechnics.

The hiring will come under one of Citi's three graduate recruitment schemes: the three- year management associate programme, the two-year banking associate programme, and the 12-month banking trainee programme.

Mr Jonathan Larsen, Citi Singapore's country head and chief executive, said the bank is 'fully supportive of MAS' initiative to continue developing the necessary talent within the industry'.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.