Want huge salary increases and to be in constant demand? Forget the trading floor, compliance is where it is at

For London’s retail and institutional FX industries, both of which are among the largest and most well respected in the world, it is not sales and customer relationship staff, vital to the cast-iron reputation British companies have for top-drawer service, nor is it product development executives which steer Britain’s ultra-modern fintech-orientated financial sector forward, that are in the highest demand.

Believe it or not, it is the belt-and-braces compliance officer that is in high demand, with, according to a report which has been issued by specialist recruitment company Barclay Simpson, 75% of managers in the Square Mile and Canary Wharf  admitting that they have difficulties in locating and recruiting employees that are skilled in compliance, and among those managers, 62% stated that the difficulty in recruiting compliance professionals with the required level of technical acumen was high.

Barclay Simpson’s report states that British firms in the financial sector are in such need of skilled compliance officers that 68% of all managers surveyed stated that their compliance department is “insufficiently resourced.”

These results are indeed testimony to FinanceFeeds having reported at the beginning of 2016 which stated that compliance officers operating on a consultancy basis are in line for large increases in their daily rates this year.

At that time, the London operations of recruitment consultancy and HR outsourcing specialist Robert Walters stated that financial institutions, including banks and electronic brokerages in London have found that senior compliance officials are in such high demand that companies are resorting to hiring external contractors from professional services consultancies and independent consultants.

Robert Walters’ report, called “The Salary Survey” showed that day rates for consultancy and contract positions in certain senior compliance roles will rise by 20% to £1,200 per day, and middle-management or internal compliance roles will rise by 7.7% to £700 per day.

As the first quarter of 2016 draws to a close, companies in Britain are increasing their recruitment spend in order to pay higher salaries to attract the right talent.

Morgan McKinley, another specialist recruitment company, released a report last year stating that salaries for compliance officers in London had increased by 20% during 2015, and as MiFID II continues to reach its final stages, the regulatory landscape is proving increasingly complex, requiring a high standard to be upheld within compliance departments to understand, let alone implement such a comprehensive set of rulings.

Indeed, it certainly looks to be the case that among those seeking career mobility and substantial increases in standards of living, the seekers of edge of the seat action on the trading floor have given way somewhat to those with a penchant for bureaucracy.