Could it be banks have failed in their 30-year crusade against insider trading?

It not so much the number of compliance people in an organisation but the quality of the people insofar as their understanding of the products. The majority of compliance people come from a legal background and do not possess the skills or experiences to understand complex products.

Yes, according to one senior banker. Last month, Caliburn chairman Peter Hunt was reported in the Melbourne Age as saying, ìUnusual price movements ahead of takeover announcements and capital raisings in this market are frustratingly commonplace.î

Huntís frank comments follow hot on the heels of the SocGen fiasco and trader suspensions at Credit Suisse. Will banks now rush to bolster compliance functions as a result? Local recruiters arenít betting on it.

Recruiter John Coles, CEO of Executive Group International, tells eFinancialCareers that compliance departments are pretty much at ìfull bottle nowî. Macquarie Bank, for example, recently reported it had increased headcount across the group by a couple of thousand employees in 2007. But in risk management and compliance, the i-bank only hired around 20 additional staff.

ìI think youíll find the banks are fully populated with lawyers in every second room, says Coles. ìI donít think thereís an increase in hiring. We did a ring around and everybody seemed pretty happy with the people they had employed in that area.î

However, Bob Olivier, a director at the Olivier Recruitment Group, says banks are re-examining the issue in the wake of the trading scandals. ìItís made them look at what happened and whether theyíre covered properly.

ìFrom a recruitment perspective, itís created more focus for compliance. In the past, compliance professionals have been overlooked as backroom boys. However, they now have more punch at the higher levels and a compliance director can command a salary of AU$200k to AU$300k annually.î