Compliance grows up - Prevention and strategy taking over from box ticking says recruiter

The compliance function within financial services is now seen as a strategic necessity rather than merely a box ticking exercise. According to Clare Capon of recruiter GRS Risk, Heads of Compliance are now appearing on boards of directors and the function is becoming increasingly strategic: ìMore and more I think we will see the lines between the compliance and risk functions becoming less clear as financial institutions take a risk based approach to monitoring and control.î

This has meant that there has been a change in the type of person needed: ìTodayís compliance professional needs a detailed understanding of what are very complex financial products ñ and they also have to understand the profit and loss elements of the business and be able to see the bigger picture. Personality is also key as the function is moving from a middle/back office policing role to that of trusted and essential advisor and so many investment banks are moving their compliance functions onto the trading floor. Consequently candidates have to be assertive, direct and customer facing.î

This is all good news for compliance specialists who may have worried about becoming pigeonholed. ìThese days there is a big emphasis on understanding not only what the compliance function is doing but also how that relates and integrates with the rest of the business ñ and those sorts of skills and qualities will always be highly marketable.î