THETRADETECH DAILY THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF TRADETECH 2023
Inés de Trémiolles : How best to recruit for the future trading desk
Global head of trading at BNP Paribas Asset Management , Inés de Trémiolles , speaks to The TRADETech Daily about how best to recruit talent , the shortcomings of current approaches and what the future of the trading desk looks like .
Would you say trading desks are currently approaching recruitment in the best possible way ? No , I think trading desks are not renewing themselves enough . We are all facing an aging population of traders and we are putting ourselves at risk of having to renew our human capital all at once . Furthermore , I think when we are hiring , we have a natural tendency to hire people who are plug and play , who know the markets , the systems , etc . We are not asking ourselves enough the question : What are the skills that will be required for trading in five to ten years ’ time ? We also need to realise that younger generations will want more job mobility . It is highly unlikely that someone starting his / her career as a trader in 2023 will be looking to trade for the rest of his / her professional career .
How can trading desks improve their approach to recruit the best talent for the future ? The best talent for the future might be beyond “ finance ” profiles . One of the
“ I think when we are hiring , we have a natural tendency to hire people who are plug and play , who know the markets , the systems , etc . We are not asking ourselves enough the question : What are the skills that will be required for trading in five to ten years ’ time ?” greatest challenges we have at trading desk is data analysis . We generate and consume lots of data but are not very efficient in what we actually do with this data or how we store it for future use . What do we learn from this data ? How do we make it available for consumption in the right format with least effort ? Data visualisation techniques will become key for trading . After all , a picture is worth a thousand words ! Personally , I think people with gaming experience have great skills , but we are not attracting any yet . Unlike in the US where military profiles are common in the trading floor , we do not usually have this in Europe . It is a pity as they usually are very methodical and can bring many good things to a trading desk .
What does the future of the trading desk look like ? From a human capital perspective , I think the trading desk will be a steppingstone to do other things later on . Younger generations are constantly looking for challenges , thus we need to accept that we will have greater rotation . As a manager , this is a source of stress as we all like stable teams , so it will be important to balance your generation exposure while becoming more agile at training new joiners . A further point will be to be open to new joiners “ recycled ” from other jobs and be willing to invest in them .
From a physical setup perspective , I think the trading desk of the future will have some of its members virtually present . Today we are all doing some home working ,
20 THETRADETECH DAILY