Compliance: from rules to riches
Compliance costs for financial institutions have spawned a booming market for consultants who are undercutting the professional services firms.
They don't come cheap. Recruitment firm Poolia Parker Bridge says temporary staff with five years' experience in financial services compliance can now earn up to 52 per hour.
Derek McKechnie, a director at recruitment firm Mackenzie Scott, puts the hourly figure even higher. He tells us that experienced compliance consultants can now 75 plus for 60 minutes' work.
Despite the lucrative rates, Chris Hickey, director of professional services at Robert Walters, says it remains more cost effective for a bank to use a consultant than to call in one of the professional services firms like Ernst & Young or KPMG.
Meanwhile, it makes sense for compliance staff to work on a consultancy basis. Hickey says a senior anti-money laundering consultant or a consultant in the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) can earn 50% more than someone employed on a full time basis by one of the professional services firms.
Little surprise, therefore, that Hickey reports a strong flow of senior compliance professionals into consulting roles in the past 12 months, attracted by the pay and flexibility. McKechnie adds that candidates are from diverse backgrounds including lawyers, accountants, internal auditors or fraud specialists.
Recruiters say the high rates on offer reflect a lack of people with the right skills. The preferred profile is someone who has spent 10 or 15 years in a compliance department, says Hickey: "They know their way around the rule book."
