Where does this job rank in the finance? Are the hours 80+ like investment banks? Any info would be appreciated, Thanks
My wife is a senior compliance officer and works 9-5.
low/ no. I think the threat here is getting pigeon-holed. I started in that role and at my firm it did actually offer a track to risk>> portfolio management. (but I think this is rare, and it was *portfolio* compliance, dealing w/ allocations, pre-clearing trades, etc. as opposed to legal type stuff). Its never the best to be a cost center- even if you’re preventing losses, but at my firm it did offer direct interaction w/ PM’s as well as client service teams. I know at some places it can be real drudgery- BO w/ low pay and no appreciation type work… so try to investigate how it is where you are thinking about working. If you can be more specific as to the type of firm, I can try to give you more info.
Avoid compliance if you want to get to the front office. It is the same as trying to get out of the back office.
Like being a cop and trying to move into robbing banks. Bank robbbers will always think you’re filth.
Could anyone lend any insight into some of the more interesting (if any) areas of compliance. From reading this board I get the feeling that this is the worst job imaginable. However, a good friend of mine works in compliance (fixed income) and he loves it - plus he’s making serious bank.
What my wife likes: -Good hours -Lot of on-the-fly logistical work since she works for a firm that manages many different accounts and portfolios -Like your friend she gets paid relatively well What she doesn’t like: -Deals with a lot of @ssholes on the portfolio management and senior management teams who don’t like compliance telling what they can and can’t do -Assumes a lot of implied liability if something goes wrong
I worked for a top 3 FI asset management firm in portfolio compliance and it was reasonably interesting at first. I basically had a ton of accounts/funds that I was responsible for monitoring for guideline (think IPS) compliance- meaning things like duration, asset class types and quality, leverage, etc. All of these are dynamic, so when there are big shifts in MV or credit rating downgrades, it would be fun dealing with the fallout. I cannot imagine what it’s like there now in light of the credit events in the last yr, I remember in ’06 when I just started and new NOTHING about FI/MBS and would ask… “Is an Alt-A really ok for an investment grade only portfolio??” and would be told of course, its at least BBB+. Haha There was a lot of liaising b/t client management and pm’s, but there was also a lot of brainless daily checking of exception reports and such. Mutual funds had their own boring issues to deal with. The legal side did more mundane work (SEC filings, etc.)+ took on issues when they actually became material breaches (litigation and such). It did get old once I learned everything though, and turnover was horrible as most ppl only took the role as a stepping stone and wanted to move on quick.
I don’t think but I think this might be the job for me. My skill sets are average or below in finance so I don’t can work in Portfolio Management/Asset Management. Compliance has okay pay and a decent lifestyle. Any more good info?
“It is the same as trying to get out of the back office.” Harder IMO, just because of the perception of the following: (1) type of work you do (2) the fact that you picked a short-hours job (3) different personalities for investing vs compliance. At my firm at least, we’d much rather move the hard-working, long-hours guy with a few years of experience in derivatives operations in the back office to an entry level analyst job in the FO, and keep the 9-to-5 nitpicky compliance person in their current role. The above paragrah does not mean that I think those stereotypes always apply, but it is how I think compliance folks are percieved relative to the most motivated/capable back office workers.
If your doing compliance for a brokerage i.e trade related …expect a lot of crap from the Traders …however if your thick skinned and really good @ dealing with A-type personalities …you could potentially move to trading support on the trading floor and then to a junior trading position . If that is the direction you want to go in then the experience might be useful …if your looking @ ER then it may not be very helpful .
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steveOW… to get a decent answer, you really need to be more specific about they type of position as compliance roles really do vary a lot. The “9-to-5 nitpicky compliance person” may be very true for the CO whose job it is to review the duplicate personal trading statements that a pm makes (not gonna make any friends having to deny a high level pm) or making sure everyone is fulfilling their necessary FINRA bs training. But that description definitely does not fit a role like the one I had, were I was somewhat appreciated for catching possible portfolio allocation/ investment violations and working with traders/pm’s on how to fit their ideas into the guidelines. My job was by no means 9-5, more like 6:30-7, and a lot of work was time sensitive putting-out-fire type of stuff. At my current firm (B/D clearing firm) there are 10x as many specific roles, including ppl who work w/ the FBI on investigating fraud like money laundering, account intrusions, and pump&dump schemes from random guys in Romania. These might not be the most helpful in getting into a pm-like roll, but they are not boring either.