Company Background
A regional financial services provider, headquartered in Singapore, offers a mix of investment, insurance, and banking products to retail and corporate clients. With operations across Southeast Asia and a growing emphasis on digital banking, the company was in the middle of a multi-year digital transformation initiative, which required scaling up their technology and risk management functions across borders.
Hiring Goals
To support its digital roadmap, the company needed to bring in skilled IT and compliance professionals who understood both technical systems and financial regulations. Roles included cybersecurity analysts, data engineers, and regulatory reporting specialists; many of which were difficult to source locally. The team wanted to build this talent pool across countries like the Philippines and Indonesia, but lacked the legal presence to hire directly. They needed a compliant hiring model that could support a hybrid mix of in-country and remote work arrangements.
Challenges Faced
- Specialized Talent Needs: Finding professionals who were both technically skilled and familiar with financial regulations proved difficult, especially outside of major hubs like Singapore.
- Cross-Border Hiring Barriers: The company didn’t have legal entities in every market where they wanted to hire, which restricted their ability to onboard talent quickly.
- Hybrid Work Complexity: Some roles were intended to be remote or hybrid to attract top candidates, but the company lacked internal infrastructure to manage distributed teams compliantly.
- Tight Regulatory Oversight: As a licensed financial institution, all employment arrangements had to meet strict audit and compliance requirements, leaving no room for error.
Solution
Second Talent partnered with the company’s HR and compliance teams to build a flexible and legally sound hiring framework:
- Specialist Talent Access: Helped the company identify and engage qualified candidates in the Philippines and Indonesia, including cybersecurity and risk analysts familiar with BFSI compliance standards.
- EOR Hiring Infrastructure: Enabled the company to hire staff under Second Talent’s local entities, ensuring legally compliant employment without needing to establish their own local operations.
- Support for Hybrid Work Models: Structured employment contracts and onboarding processes that accommodated hybrid and remote work, while staying compliant with local employment laws.
- Regulatory Alignment: Provided guidance on statutory obligations, employment terms, and risk mitigation to satisfy internal audit and legal teams.
Results Achieved
The company successfully mapped out a scalable hiring pathway for regional expansion, and filled key roles within a matter of weeks. With Second Talent’s EOR solution, they were able to maintain full compliance while expanding their hybrid workforce across borders without setting up new legal entities. This partnership gave the company’s HR, compliance, and executive teams the confidence to move forward with their digital initiatives, knowing their workforce strategy was both agile and audit-ready.
Note: This case study is intended for reference purposes.
