Banks expect their trade finance business to expand by more than a quarter over the next year but will struggle to hire or train the required workforce, an industry analyst believes.Vivianne Arnold, founder of executive search firm Franklin Phillips, told an industry briefing yesterday that her research had established that many key staff in trade finance teams at banks were in their late 50s or early 60s and actively planning their retirement.Drawing on research from East & Partners, which hosted the briefing, Arnold said effective sales practices when it came to trade finance products could significantly cut the likelihood of customer churn, while also lifting the cross-sell ratio.Arnold said the offshoring of many routine tasks may serve to diminish the pool of future trade finance specialists, who once learned the ropes processing documentation in the back office and then later on moved into sales and services.Trade finance specialists at banks appear to have plenty of work on hand.East's research found that only one quarter of the volume of trade finance used by businesses involved a conventional trade finance product. Instead, supplier credit and other forms of working capital finance were widely used.