Much of the talk at last week’s Fixed Income Leaders Summit in Boston centred around the mechanics of buying and selling bonds: data and analytics, liquidity sourcing, emerging technologies, trading protocols, and more. The event wrapped up Friday with discussions about the industry’s single most indispensable and valuable asset: its people. The Rising Star panel covered the most important skills and characteristics for employees, and the consensus came back to personal qualities.
Sanaa Clausse BenAbdelhadi, senior director, head of business development & events sponsorship at ICMA, looks for passion; curiosity; the ability to take risks, make mistakes and to learn from them; and communication and adaptive skills. “You can train people on the hard skills,” BenAbdelhadi said. “What you can’t change is their mindset and their attitude.”
Laurel Cassidy said when she interviewed for her previous role as cross-asset trader at Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisors, she acknowledged she did not have trading experience but emphasized her desire to learn. “[The interviewer] was willing to hire me on my promise, not on my past,” Cassidy said. “Skills can be taught. It’s the core personal qualities that are the bedrock of what you’re looking for.”
Stephanie Fraser, senior trader – North America trading manager at Baillie Gifford, said it is important to thirst for market knowledge, as well as be adaptable, a good communicator, and be able to multitask.
“You need to be confident enough to push back at times,” she added.
Panellists cited the following hard, or learned skills that are in-demand: savviness with emerging technologies including AI; derivatives expertise; quantitative trading skills; coding; and data literacy.
In the ‘DE&I Fireside Chat’, which followed the ‘Rising Stars’ panel, panellists were asked about recent pushback on DE&I, which is perceived to be at least partly motivated by politics.
“It has become a political lightning rod, but I find comfort in numbers and data,” said Sara Levin, director, ETF & Derivative Trading at WallachBeth Capital, who cited McKinsey research showing that diverse asset managers tend to outperform. “DE&I is not just ticking a box, it’s about inviting different schools of thought to be comfortable and have a voice.”
Levin added that DE&I is an important tool for recruiting, as well as retaining top talent. She said if a woman or person of color were interviewing at a firm and encountered only white men, that would be a red flag as it would prompt a self-assessment of whether that’s a place the interviewee could succeed in.
Maria Ma, managing director, Fixed Income & International Equity Portfolio Manager at Lincoln Financial Group, said DE&I needs to be embedded in the culture, and it is everyone’s job, not just that of the C-suite or the Board.
“[DE&I] is about the dynamics of the team, and it’s about diverse perspectives,” Ma said. “You need that idea generation, you need to have healthy debates where everyone is comfortable for the best outcome.”
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