Nearly 700 companies of financial services industry apply to create over 1,400 new hires under FIRST
21 Oct 2020
Hong Kong, 21 October 2020 - The Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) today announced that the first batch of applications for “Financial Industry Recruitment Scheme for Tomorrow” (FIRST) has filled up 96% of the 1,500 job creation quota dedicated to the financial services industry of Hong Kong.
As of 24:00 on 20 October 2020, three weeks after the launch of FIRST on 30 September 2020, the FSDC had received applications from 697 eligible employers for 1,444 new hires for full time jobs. FIRST is commissioned by the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, and administrated by FSDC, under the HKSAR Government’s HK$6 billion Anti-epidemic Fund.
Commenting on the overwhelming response of the industry to FIRST, Chairman of the FSDC, Mr Laurence Li SC, said, “The result of the initial batch of applications is encouraging. It shows the financial services industry’s commitment to Hong Kong in this difficult time. It also highlights Hong Kong’s strength as an international financial centre and the fact that there are still many new opportunities. The assistance and incentive from the HKSAR Government has come at the right time. I look forward to more financial firms applying for the remaining scheme quota.”
Executive Director of the FSDC, Dr Au King-lun, said the FSDC will assess whether the applications meet the eligibility criteria of the scheme, and reminded eligible employers that from today onwards, applications for FIRST will be processed on a first-come-first-served basis. Applications should be made online via this portal (https://first.fsdc.org.hk/en).
More details about FIRST is available on this webpage (www.fsdc.org.hk/en/first/about) of the FSDC website.