For many financial and legal organisations, the days of in-house career development staffs are gone. Delano spoke with three people at the forefront of this field to find out what the trends are and how they are adapting to the new normal. Last week, Berglind Fridriks talked about soft skills for lawyers.

This week, a look inside the financial sector.

After 20 years of auditing in 30 different countries, Leslie Foster branched out and started his own firm, Governance People, which specialises in risk and compliance courses for Luxembourg’s financial sector.

“The training available for my profession includes product training, derivatives, theory-based internal auditor exams, but the practical ‘how to audit or how to control’? It’s not there,” he says. “You can find these kinds of courses in Paris or London, but they’re very expensive.”

Foster has built his business model on responding to regulatory circulars and addressing their requirements. He offers very specific courses. “An internal audit must follow international standards,” he says.

“Therefore a [certified internal auditor] must have the right training. In fact, the circulars are now requiring directors to have a training plan and offer their people a chance to acquire the skills required for their jobs.”

In addition, regulations like the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive can be difficult for small to mid-sized firms to navigate. The glut of new regulations in response to the financial crisis has been good for Foster.

“Circulars also require every bank to have a whistle blower policy, so I have a course for that,” he says. “I serve as the official ‘go to’ person outside of the firm for someone with a grievance and interface with management to resolve a situation before it becomes a problem.”

Foster has seen just about every scenario in his field. Having worked in cities from New York to Tokyo to London to Riyadh, he’s encountered just about every kind of obstacle.

“I try to be progressive, yet interactive,” he says. “For example, an external training day away from the office can make a big difference. But I expect people to participate. It’s not just a day without work.”

His goal is to help more firms integrate training into their modus operandi. “Going from ‘that would be nice to have when we have the time’ to ‘we would like an annual pre-organised scheduled way of working’. This is a shift.”

Part three of the “Investing in people” series, on financial technology, next week.