Can list down some of these grad programs?

You will be dealing trade-related rules and regulation. You can branch-out to any banking activities that involves trading, like private banking, broker dealer, asset management or investment banking.

Credit Suisse compliance practicum, bnp paribas immersion analyst, some foreign and local banks graduate programs offer roles in compliance as well!

try to aim for internal jump to another function in aml. I'm from compliance and think that KYC ops is generally mundane and 'ops' related hence easily replaceable. gluck buddy

Sorry for the late reply, I've accepted the role in sanctions and will be starting next week. Well unfortunately..it's not under a graduate program, and its with a foreign bank. I sure hope there are opportunities to rotate, would love to learn more than sanctions. Still not sure about the prospects and all, but I guess I'll see how it goes once I'm in it.

Thanks!

Have been approached by recruiters on compliance roles. How's the nature of the job? I heard it can be very boring and repetitive.

Interest in Compliance role
 

Hi,

I'm from front office, boutique asset management, but due to nasty bosses and stagnation, I'm looking to switch to compliance roles. Keen interest in securities law. How can I break into this career path?
Currently 5 years work experience, NTU business finance grad. No opportunity for internal transfer.

Don't mind the paycut. Wants stability and progress.

Any kind souls could share a rope or two?

I am not familiar with compliance on securities aspects, as I am doing AML compliance. However, getting a compliance role would be somewhat similar, whether you are doing securities compliance or AML. Nowadays, there are more banks who are keen to take on individuals taking a career switch. You can forget about smaller firms because they usually have 1 - 2 people doing Compliance, so they will not take a newbie. Bigger banks will generally be more willing to take a newbie and facilitate job rotations. You should also be prepared to try contract positions, to get yourself started. There is a misconception on contract positions that they are always lowly paid. In some banks, the contract positions can pay more than a permanent position. It all depends on your experience and what you will be doing.

Firstly, take a compliance certification (you can google) and at least get yourself certified first. It shows commitment as well that you are really keen to move towards Compliance functions. You might meet a few people who can share how they get their Compliance roles during your study for the certification.

Secondly, go to all the major banks career site and search for compliance roles. For junior roles, they don't go to headhunters. Submit your CV directly through the job site. If you are selected for an interview, make sure you are prepared for the interview. Nobody expects you to be an expert, but if you go into an interview, not knowing even the basics, you can forget about getting the job. If you are Singaporean, please indicate clearly that you are a Singaporean. Many major banks are pressured to hire Singaporeans, and also to accept individuals taking a mid-career switch. Giving a plausible reason will help you in being selected for an interview.

Lastly, many people think that Compliance role is a stable role with guaranteed progression. I would like to emphasize that it is true, up to a certain level. In order to be a successful compliance person, you need to be resourceful, i.e. have answers on questions that have no answers.

The role of compliance officers are getting more grey, as it is moving towards advisory. If you are not doing advisory, you are merely an operational staff. The global direction is to move a lot of the existing compliance functions into operations eventually. It will start with the major banks before it cascade to the smaller financial institutions. If you do not want to end up in operation team in 10 years time, you should try to get into advisory. Needless to say, operation team get crappier bonus, lesser pay increments and are the first to be cut, during retrenchment.

From an advisory perspective, the business are getting smarter. The obvious answers, they can figure it out themselves. It is the ambiguous one whereby nobody wants to take a decision, that they come to compliance for guidance. I have hired a lot of compliance officers in my career, and very few has transit to be very successful. Many of them get stuck at a certain level and find it challenging to progress. There is a significant amount of regulatory scrutiny in financial institutions and being a senior in the compliance world, is not for those with a weak heart. Many regulators are holding chief compliance officers and the CEO directly responsible for failure within the banks.

One of the worse transition is a lady who used to head the operation team (managing 200 people) moved to compliance functions. Every other day, she breaks down and cry due to stress and that she simply have no answers and do not know what to do. A certification will only help you understand the fundamentals, but there are more to take on, beyond understanding the basics.

Been in AML transaction monitoring in PB space for more than 3 years now and am trying to make a switch to other aspects of AML compliance, preferably advisory but seems like recruiters are pushing TM positions down my throat only. If I continue on with TM, can anyone here advise on the future progression? Just thinking with 3 years TM exp, if I continue on in TM, won't it be harder in the future to break out of TM? Any thoughts / advice appreciated thanks!!!

If u want to progress in banking its all about networking, not "skills". Otherwise no matter what experience you have you will forever just be a AVP/VP making <30k a month.