AI Agents for Investment Professionals: A Hands-On Workshop

The workshop is designed for beginners* and intermediate learners**.

Find out how Use an AI agent to automate routine tasks and optimize your work processes.

Through hands-on exercises, participants will learn how to formulate effective instructions, manage the agent’s context, and validate the results obtained. You’ll be working on your own computer from the very start. The course follows a practical workflow based on official data from the Bank of Canada via its Valet API. Each concept is explained when you need it and put into practice right away.

Workshop Agenda:

1. 1. Connect an agent to your systems using adapters, APIs, and existing MCP connectors, without having to wait for IT support.
   2. Choosing the Right Tool: knowing when to assign a task to an agent, when to have it write a program that reliably repeats the task, and when neither is necessary.
   3. Organizing Your Work: Distinguish between data, code, and instructions (prompts) so that each element is readable, verifiable, and reusable.
   4. Staying in control: verify the agent's output and decide which data can be shared with which department.

*Beginner: You use Excel and perhaps tools like ChatGPT, but you’ve never programmed—or have only modified a few lines of code. You’re not familiar with concepts like APIs or the command line.

**Intermediate: You have already written scripts (Python, VBA, R, or SQL) and are comfortable working with data files. You know what an API is.**.

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Technical Requirements and Prerequisites

A personal laptop with administrator privileges (Windows or macOS)

An AI agent account (e.g., Claude Code or Codex)

Python recommended; PowerShell (Windows) or Terminal (macOS) may also work

Additional details regarding tools and technical requirements will be provided ahead of the event, taking into account participants’ backgrounds, interests, and technical constraints.

The workshop uses only public data.

Do you work at a large organization? IT policies there often restrict the use of AI tools. You’ll leave with the right questions to ask your IT and compliance teams.

The workshop will be conducted in French

CFA Montréal members receive priority registration for this event. Registration will open to non-members on February 1, 2027.