300k is no problem for compliance for most compliance folks at age 35. That why you see many lawyers switching to become compliance for half the workload but with 75% of their legal pay

Fresh grad @ 25: 4K - Analyst
3 years exp @ 28: 6k - Associate ( at this point, a stint in MAS banking supervision can be a good detour)
5 years exp @ 30: 10k - AVP
10 years exp @ 35: 15k-20k - VP/SVP at a mid-tier bank (with one job-hop) overseeing one line of business product compliance advisory, or one in specialized field e.g. financial crime, regulatory compliance, etc

How would the bonus work out on average for the above compliance officers?

Anyone knows which is a better place to start in order to progress further under the aml/financial crime compliance umbrella, kyc or transaction monitoring?

Why is it that someone a few pages back wrote to gain experience in aml then jump over to kyc??

from experience, TM / sanctions screening will be a better start. Honestly, kyc/cdd (i.e onboarding, periodic reviews, exiting,etc) is not that hard...everyone in the industry knows that. But ultimately, you would want to be good at all these functions since these r like the bread n butter for anyone thats in FCC.


FCC houses aml/cft advisory, which encompasses control measures like TM/ payments scrning/ kyc. If u r a fresh grad or someone with no prior relevant exp, kyc will be a easy for u to get into..

Bonus is not as good as FO, but the total compensation is very good. I know AML MDs in early 40s are paid in total SGD600k+. This comp is as good as front office Executive Director level who brings in 10mm revenue/yr for the Firm.

From efinancialcareer
"You can earn USD$340k (£224k) after 10 years in anti-money laundering
You’ll have to wait longer for gigantic pay in anti-money laundering, but it will come. AML used to be a bit of a backwater in compliance, but with giant fines at HSBC and Standard Chartered it’s suddenly become a hot topic. Tomas Strelczak, compliance recruitment manager at Robert Walters, says anti-money laundering pay has increased faster than other areas of the compliance market in recent years. “It’s an incredibly in-demand area, a lot of teams are building out headcount considerably,” he tells us."

You are slightly out of touch with the market. There has been at least 10% pay rise in last 2 years for most compliance staff to prevent jumping ship. Many are re-negotiating for a pay raise, or banks will counter-offer easily at this level. Talk to a seasoned head-hunter who can advise you better.

Im currently at the associate level and can confirm the basic is around 6k. However, I cant see myself making 10k/mth in 2 years time at this current rate..

Any constructive feedback on securing AVP pay/positions other than the MAS route?

Currently in a mid-size compliance setup doing more aml-focused work

Basic at $6k at associate level? Which area of aml compliance are you in? Compliance advisory?

2016 : 10% increase to 7.2k - assuming average compliance wage inflation
2017 : 15% increase to 8.2k - grade jump to avp.
Job-hop to another setup for another 20% hike to reach 10k

Try to move to FO compliance advisory work. This requires upgrade in financial knowledge to level of CFA, and u get faster pay jump but with higher stress.

I am sim graduate with no honours, take a contract job in aml in 2009. After 6 yrs in aml in trade finance transaction, and with 2 job hop, getting 10.5k now as AVP. I think my secondary school mates who got into SMU, avoided compliance as it was considered back-waters, now they are regreting as they feel stuck in deadend audit 12hrs/day jobs