26 students shortlisted for OCBC Bank internship on 'bank of the future'

SINGAPORE - Twenty-six students will embark on a quest to come up with innovative ideas for a bank of the future, as part of a unique internship programme by OCBC Bank, which is also designed to hone their entreprenuerial skills and banking sector experience.

Selected from a pool of 500 applications, the interns - to be known as FRANKprenuers - will be required to work creatively on a problem statement to come up with an innovative solution to "build the bank for the new world economy," OCBC said in a press release on Monday.

They will be equipped with cloud-based applications from technology leaders Google and Adobe, attend workshops to learn to use and apply the tools of business, get trained by OCBC experts and learn from the experiences of other entreprenuers, the release added. University professors and subject matter experts will play the role of team mentors.

"The OCBC FRANKpreneurship is designed to be different from other internship programmes in the market," said Jason Ho, head of group human resources, OCBC Bank. The students will come up with an innovative solution to "build the bank for the new world economy as they envisage what their ideal bank of the future will be like," he said.

The programme, to commence next month, comes with a 10-week attachment at OCBC, and carry on for another 12 weeks. Each intern will be attached to the retail, corporate, fintech and human resources units of the bank, all the while working on the future bank project.

At the end of the six month period, students will pitch their ideas to a panel of judges comprising OCBC Bank's senior management and line managers, as well as university professors.

The FRANKpreneurs will also be assessed during the six-month period for suitability to join the bank's management trainee programme which offers outstanding young bankers an accelerated career in the bank, the release added.

This article was first published on April 17, 2017.
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