Financial crime specialists are in demand

With regulators imposing heavy penalties on institutions that do not adhere to controls designed to prevent financial crime, the recruitment of individuals working within this capacity has risen in spite of the economic downturn. As a result, 2012 saw a substantial growth in recruitment across all disciplines of financial crime prevention, including roles in advisory, assurance, sanctions, policy, anti-bribery and corruption, training, remediation, process embedding, sanctions monitoring and client due diligence.

 Factors driving demand for financial crime expertise

Along with substantial fines for institutions, there is now also a much higher risk of individuals facing personal fines and even jail sentences for failure to adhere to financial crime regulations. As such, specialists within this field are extremely sought-after across the financial markets. Due to the severity of the consequences which banks face should they fail to observe certain deadlines and protocols, recruitment budgets for sourcing first-class financial crime specialists continued to increase during the last year.

 Benefits of opportunities in this sector

Financial crime positions afford employees a greater degree of global mobility compared to other regulatory roles, as banking institutions must comply with international regulations. Employers are currently consideringapplicants from a diverse range of backgrounds, including regulatory, legal and law enforcement firms, but many still struggle to find candidates with suitable skill levels.

 What to expect in the near future

For those who have secured permanent positions within financial crime, 2012 saw salaries increase by up to 20% year-on-year across policy, sanctions, assurance and advisory roles. A similar escalation is anticipated for the same disciplines during 2013, as well as within due diligence. Meanwhile the contract market has experienced a 5% increase in day rates for those working within transformation and operations, or due diligence, as well as a 20% jump in the day rates for financial crime advisors.

However, as financial crime change programmes are gradually completed over the next year or so, the number of contract workers who are recruited is expected to fall. Permanent hires, on the other hand, are more likely to increase, as institutions work to ensure that financial crime controls are ingrained within their business-as-usual processes.

Several large UK banks have sought to keep costs down by offshoring or nearshoring their anti-money laundering operations out of London. Despite this, however, recruitment of financial crime experts is still expected to increase during 2013, with a surge in demand for policy and advisory specialists in particular.

Tell us what you think in our Financial Markets LinkedIn group: What are the most important qualities and skills needed to solve financial crime?

Find UK financial crime roles here. To find opportunities for financial crime roles where you reside, visit Hays in your country.

Author

Geoff Fawcett

Director, Hays UK

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Geoff Fawcett has been in the recruitment industry for over 16 years. He is currently responsible for Hays Financial Markets, which provides an integrated recruitment solution to London based Banking & Financial Services organisations. Specialist divisions include Finance, Operations, HR, Marketing, Purchasing, Secretarial, Risk & Compliance, Front Office, Finance Technology and Executive with in excess of 100 consultants.