Industry Insights: Make the Most of the New Irish Financial Services Skills Framework

Last month IOB, with input and support from Irish Funds, launched the expanded Irish Financial Services Skills Framework for Ireland’s funds and asset management industry.

All of the critical drivers of change in the funds and asset management industry – from the green and digital transformations to new regulatory requirements – share a common dependency when it comes to advancing progress: skills.

Skills gaps and requirements emerge so quickly - it is a challenge for both firms and funds professionals to keep pace. The Irish Financial Services Skills Framework is an innovative response to these challenges.

It is a powerful tool that can help you to explore key skills across all functions in the area and identify relevant education and training options to strengthen your skillset. In this article, we provide some tips on how you can get started and make the most of the new resource.

Your role is a matrix of skills

The future of recruitment and personal development is skills-based. In today’s dynamic funds and asset management industry, roles are evolving faster than job titles. Every position is a collection of skills at different levels of proficiency. While job titles tend to be connected with key tasks and responsibilities, skills provide a powerful basis for us to understand how we do our work and how we could adapt to bring our skillset to new functions or industries. Skills are the essential building blocks of your work and career.

Getting started with the Framework

Visit skillsframework.ie to access the Irish Financial Services Skills Framework. The Framework initially launched this summer for Ireland’s retail banking industry, and last month the Framework for investment funds was added.

The Framework is arranged into skill clusters – groups of related skills, knowledge and expertise. There are two categories of skill clusters – technical and professional. Technical skills are specialised expertise required to perform technical tasks in financial services, while professional skills are groups of broad, transferable abilities that support work across roles and sectors in financial services.

Browse by function

Why not begin by browsing technical skills in the functional area you are working in or interested in. Technical skills in the industry are listed across key functions like investment risk, client service delivery and regulatory reporting. As you explore a skill cluster, you can view the breakdown of proficiencies into four levels – foundational, practitioner, expert and leader, and establish which level you are at today. This is a great way to benchmark your knowledge and skills and see how you could potentially strengthen your skillset at your proficiency level – or progress to another level.

Explore education pathways

On the Framework, you can explore education and training opportunities relevant to each skills cluster proficiency level. You will find all available education programmes across the island of Ireland, with an overview of each programme and links to learn more.

Benefits of the Framework

The recent Future of Work report by the World Economic Forum highlighted that employers globally expect 39% of workers’ core skills to change by 2030. The Irish Financial Services Skills Framework will play an important role in helping companies and professionals to anticipate and manage future skill requirements.

Mary O’Dea, IOB CEO, believes that the resource will be a game changer for education and skills development in the industry, she said “We’re proud to have worked closely with the sector to deliver a solution that supports sustainable growth, innovation, and inclusion.”

Explore the Irish Financial Services Skills Framework today at skillsframework.ie.