Wanted compliance experts - Hays Viewpoint - careers advice blog Viewpoint careers advice blog

Wanted compliance experts - Hays Viewpoint - careers advice blog Going global: waves of new regulations drive the global search for compliance experts The size and scope of regulatory change and tougher economic conditions means the role of compliance officers has jumped to the forefront of the banking industry. Working directly with senior executives, compliance officers play a key role in ensuring that financial firms have the controls in place to manage and protect their number one asset: their reputation. “Compliance officers are being partnered with the front office as part of the push in the industry to make the compliance function more effective,” notes my colleague Michael Green, Senior Consultant at Hays. The large corporate scandals of the early noughties have contributed to this shift in mindset. The seismic shocks of Enron and Worldcom were followed by the September 11 attacks and the introduction in 2002 of the Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) guidelines. A mere five years later, the credit crunch rocked the world’s financial markets and prompted the demise of banks previously deemed to be ‘too big to fail’ such as Lehman Brothers. It was a rude awakening for the financial sector as it opened its eyes to the vital importance of compliance and risk management. The huge increase in regulations that have followed has forced banks to dramatically increase the number and quality of compliance officers on their payroll. There have been many initiatives keeping compliance officers busy and banks worried. These include Basel 3, the new regulatory standard for banks’ capital adequacy, stress testing and market liquidity, the impending implementation of Basel 4, the Dodd-Frank Act and the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). In 2012, the head of financial stability at the Bank of England Andy Haldane estimated that 70,000 new full-time jobs would need to be created in Europe alone to comply with the requirements of Basel 3. Haldane also believed that the Dodd-Frank rules would create tens of thousands of new compliance positions in the USA. “We are seeing very high demand for compliance candidates across the market with a big increase in headcounts,” continues Michael. “In the UK, it is currently estimated that there is one compliance officer for every 200 bankers. The FCA’s goal is to bring this ratio down to one to 50. As a result, we predict that demand for compliance specialists will quadruple over the next couple of years.” Large-scale hiring across the globe and from non-compliance backgrounds Compliance officers typically have a legal background. However, as a result of large-scale hiring, the search for compliance officers has become global, extending beyond the usual boundaries. Michael explains: “Every bank wants specialists to come in and do the work for them. In the past, banks have struggled to find these specialists because the market has been so short of experienced compliance officers.” As a result, there is greater flexibility for candidates willing to enter compliance from a different background, such as ex-traders. Michael explains: “These candidates already have in-depth knowledge about how the banks work, and are hired to be trained as compliance officers. In recent years, the regulators themselves have become something of a proving ground, training candidates in different regulations.” There is also major demand to bring people in from outside of the UK, so much so that the banks will now actually sponsor the most experienced compliance experts to work for them.” An elite profession The role of compliance officers is moving from business advisory to decision making. Becoming a compliance officer is not a choice by default and it follows a logical path with the need for professional qualifications such as a compliance diploma. The right candidates belong to a certain elite. Consequently, compliance officers now have the upper hand financially. “Experienced compliance officers are being headhunted from one bank to another,” highlights Michael. “Salaries are rising quite quickly to the point that some of the banks can’t really keep up. An experienced compliance officer moving from one job to another can expect a 20% to 40% salary increase from the current base as demand outweighs supply. In some banks, compliance officers are now even signed-up with bonuses.” Be part of the conversation. Join our Financial Markets Industry Insights LinkedIn group to share your thoughts and stay up-to-date with the latest financial markets business, employment and recruitment news. Join the conversation