Does anyone has any idea for career paths regarding portfolio/investment compliance? If one were to enter this area, what are some of the exit opportunities? Is it possible to move other areas such as asset allocation, performance attribution, fund advisory,risk management etc in later stage or simply stuck in this corner?
Reason asked is because it seems that there are alot of compliance-related roles available than other areas in this current tight job market conditions. Comparing with other banking compliance roles such as transaction monitoring & surveillance/client due diligence/regulatory reporting or client on-boarding, portfolio/investment compliance would be something slightly more ‘interesting’ (I guess?).Thus interested to know more about it. Also does portfolio compliance roles involves anything related to GIPS standard?
As in mandate adherence? I’m not sure how it works at banks but at the 3 buyside firms I’ve worked at, this function has been separate to the broader compliance function (aka where ambition goes to die) and has just been a team of people sitting wading through Charles River type systems and occasionally turning up at my desk to tell me that I can’t buy something as the computer says no.
I’ve seen a few people carve out a career there (particularly fixed interest) but I don’t think I’ve seen or heard of anyone getting a decent exit op from this role. Although I’m sure you could leverage into a performance and maybe a risk role.
Or teach CFA at NYSSA, I know a few instructors who used to be in compliance at major firms. If you get really good at it you can become an independent consultant for smaller firms.
Thanks for sharing your insights guys! Greatly appreciated!
I have recently attended first rnd interview for portfolio compliance role (entry/junior level) with an insurance firm and as per gringo_bob mentioned, the role is sort of monitoring the investment limits for the funds, reviewing the external mgrs etc. Will hear from them next week if shortlisted for second rnd with the Head of Compliance.
While I do understand that moving to compliance area is usually not the preferred option given a choice, it seems to be THE growing section and out of 10 finance job advertisements, 6 are compliance related. It’s no longer the question of “what types are roles you are interested but what roles are available in the market you can get”.
What’s your background, I’d proceed with caution with this role. Once you are in this role it’s very difficult to move out… Demand seems high because of the current regulatory environment, but that could change especially at the bigger places that are trying to cut down cost.
