Built to Lead: How Singapore’s Talent Pipeline Drives Citi’s Global Growth

Exceptional teams are driving change at globally leading enterprises. For companies with ambitions to grow, compete, and lead across markets, access to the right talent makes all the difference.

Singapore has made this possible through deliberate, long-term investment in its workforce – including more than US$100 million (S$127.4 million) to support workforce upskilling and over 30 national initiatives spanning early- to mid-career development -- building a strong, future-ready pipeline of local talent and leaders equipped to perform on the global stage. 

Access to this deep pool of skilled professionals has enabled banking giant Citi to expand its presence in Singapore. The career trajectories of two employees at Citi’s Singapore headquarters illustrates this well: Galvin Phua, a senior leader shaping client strategy across Asia, and Tricia To, a specialist delivering data-driven intelligence in Citi’s Analytics and Innovation function. 

Together, their stories show how Singapore develops the talent that global businesses need to scale their operations and sustain long-term growth with confidence. 

Primed to Lead with Impact

For Galvin, joining Citi was a deliberate choice. “Citi’s sheer depth of talent, the scope of its global network, and the range of its product and solutions offerings drew me in,” he recalls. Based at Citi’s Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore, he has since built a career in leading teams, shaping client strategy, and delivering impactful work across the region.  

While in a Corporate Sales and Solutions role at Citi, Galvin’s leadership potential caught the attention of his then-Markets Head. This led to his introduction to the Singapore Leaders Network (SGLN) Fellowship, managed by the Human Capital Leadership Institute, to further develop his leadership capabilities. 

The programme left a clear mark on how Galvin leads today. “The SGLN experience has directly influenced how I mentor my team. It reinforced the importance of encouraging them to speak up and advocate for themselves, and to take a broader, cross-functional perspective when solving their clients’ challenges,” he said. 

Engaging with senior Singaporean leaders across industries also gave him ideas and practical strategies to effectively lead teams across functions and geographies. 

As Head of APAC Citi Commercial Bank Corporate Solutions Sales and ASEAN Corporate Solutions Sales within Citi’s Markets Franchise, Galvin and his teams design customised solutions that leverage Citi’s full Markets capabilities to address clients’ complex needs in liquidity, funding, and risk management. 

Singapore’s position as a global financial hub gave Galvin the platform to lead regional teams across Asia Pacific and Southeast Asia, and grow into the kind of global business leader that multinational companies like Citi need. 

Reskilling Specialists for the Future of Finance

While Galvin’s journey reflects leadership development at the senior level, Tricia’s story shows how Singapore enables transformation at another critical stage: mid-career reskilling into future-ready technical roles. 

Today, Tricia is an Assistant Vice President providing strategic intelligence on team performance and operational priorities as part of the Technology & Business Enablement Quality Assurance Team. Her work supports leadership decision-making across everything from issue status to resource allocation. 

Her path into finance, however, was far from linear. Tricia spent nearly a decade in the aviation industry before making a deliberate pivot to reskill into data analytics, with the support of government funding. Through specialised on-the-job training, she gained core competencies in Python, SQL, and Tableau – tools she now applies daily to analyse and automate data workflows at Citi.

“Successfully applying my new skills with the support of my team accelerated my transition and proved I could deliver value in a new industry.” 

Technical skills aside, the support of her colleagues and mentors proved equally important. “The mentorship from my manager and team upon joining Citi truly stood out. I'm incredibly grateful for their patience and their commitment to my integration,” she says. 

Now a core part of Citi’s operational backbone, Tricia’s journey is a testament to what becomes possible when the right support structures meet individual drive and adaptability in Singapore.

A Plug and Play Ecosystem for Global Companies

Global-minded leaders. Technical specialists with future-ready skills. Strong institutional support for upskilling. It’s why Singapore’s known for giving high-growth companies the talent they need to scale globally.   

Ready to build your A-team in Singapore? Learn more about hiring and developing talent here.