“Upskilling” is the key to staying relevant as AI reshapes post-trade roles

Upskilling isn’t just important for enhancing current skills – it will also enable post-trade market participants to remain relevant as artificial intelligence becomes pervasive. That is the view of Pauline Duburquoy, deputy head of HR at CACEIS Luxembourg, who will be contributing her human resource expertise to our panel discussion on attracting and building the workforce of tomorrow at PostTrade360° 2025.

“People in post-trade organisations have a specific set of capabilities but if we don’t pay attention to acquiring new skills we could face a kind of planned obsolescence as soon as the end of this decade due to the growing use of AI,” she says. “The challenge for HR leaders is how to enable employees to upskill their abilities to meet new requirements.”

This emphasis on continued professional development will be driven by the need for more efficient processes in an increasingly automated environment. “Organisations need to equip their people with the necessary skills and empower those who now undertake repetitive, manual tasks that will no longer exist in the next five to eight years,” says Duburquoy.

Soft skills

So-called soft skills will become increasingly desirable. New employees should be encouraged to be curious, to engage with their colleagues and see their career as a continuous process of self-learning.

Attendees will go back to their organisations with the brief of challenging the status quo. The post-trade industry is changing and Duburquoy recommends an approach to human resources based on recognition that new approaches are needed, thus introducing the need to recycle skills to be fit and ready for the new jobs that will emerge.

Accept the challenge

This could mean developing individual training paths or creating partnerships with educational institutions to see how students from other disciplines (for example, engineering graduates) could bring value to the business, she says. 

“Individuals must also accept being challenged and be willing to think outside the box – the old ways of doing things will not work in an era of automation, so they must be prepared to ask questions about how they can acquire the skills needed to prepare for the post-trade industry of tomorrow,” concludes Duburquoy.

Have you signed up yet to be in Stockholm for PostTrade 360° 2025 on 3–4 September? It’s free for securities operations pros, both trading and investor sides! (Vendor firm representatives need a sponsorship agreement.) The powerful event website lets you register, see all other delegates, schedule sessions and meetings, and message. Find all related articles, including loads of teaser interviews, here.