What is the salary of a compliance officer in the UK?

The average salary for a compliance officer is £35,546 per year in the United Kingdom as of 27 January 2023.

Which Degree Program is best for becoming a Compliance Officer?

1- BSc Accounting with Finance. 2- BSc Finance with Accounting. 3- MSc Corporate Governance and Ethics. 4- MSc Corporate Governance with Company Law. 5- MSc Business Analytics. 6- MSc Investment and Trading. Apart from these, the certifications and training programs are widely available in the UK and other countries for pursuing a compliance career.

Is compliance a good career in the UK?

Since the last few years, there has been a huge demand in the compliance field for professionals. For finance students, this career will be a good choice in current times.

AML

13 min Read

October 25, 2023

How to Become a Compliance Officer: A Career Building Guide

Compliance with KYC/AML is an imperative requirement for organizations and individuals. To ensure compliance, a competent workforce is required, that is qualified and experienced enough for the process execution. So, the compliance officer is a key person for ensuring the firm’s compliance with regulatory and legal requirements. Today, we shall answer the question of how to become a compliance officer. This guide shall provide you with the key takeaways and knowledge on what compliance professionals are required to do. Mainly, you will learn the benefits and qualifications required to become a compliance official.

M Abd'al Bari

Research Associate

Who is a Compliance Officer?

As the name suggests, a compliance officer ensures the firm’s compliance with regulatory and legal requirements. Also, he ensures that the firm is abiding by the rules and regulations and follows bylaws. Normally, they are obligated to identify, analyze & monitor regulatory risks. Also, they are responsible for regulatory risk monitoring and reporting. Usually, there is a compliance department in firms, but sometimes compliance is outsourced. Especially in the case of banks, they tend to outsource such activities to keep their procedures simple.

Core Duties of a Compliance Officer

A compliance officer is obligated to ensure a robust KYC/AML program across the firm. Almost 50% of the work of a compliance officer is related to the effective implementation of compliance regulations. In financial institutions and banks, the compliance department has a core responsibility of ensuring regulatory compliance and due diligence at all levels. Ultimately, the responsibility of legal compliance falls on the shoulders of compliance officers. They can make a firm legally compliant by setting compliance standards and goals for everyone. It is vitally important that the compliance officer is empowered with a certain level of control. This is to ensure that authority and leadership are necessary for a system to be implemented. Similarly, developing a culture of compliance is another responsibility of the compliance staff. Establishing the critical importance of compliance in corporate culture might be challenging but necessary.

Job Description of a Compliance Officer

Following are the core responsibilities of compliance department officers.

Implementation & management of effective legal compliance
Development and review of company policies
Advisory role to management on the firm’s compliance with regulations and laws
Detailed reporting for the compliance activities and strategy
Creating and managing an effective strategy to resolve the audited issues and resolve compliance violations
Assessment of the company’s operations to determine regulatory and compliance risk.
Educating employees on the updated regulations and processes
Leading and managing the compliance training of employees
Resolving the employee’s issues regarding legal compliance

Steps to Become a Compliance Officer

To pursue a successful career in regulatory compliance, you need concrete and practical steps that enable you to long-term and fast-paced career growth. Here are a few steps with detailed explanations that can help you kick-start your compliance career journey.

1) Required Qualifications

Typically, a 4-year Bachelor’s Degree is required as per industry standards. The degree should cover the following major subjects in this regard:

No.	Discipline	Subjects
1	Accounting & Finance	Financial Management Accounting Principles Financial Reporting
2	Law & Regulations	Business Law Banking and Finance Law Anti-Money Laundering Laws and Regulations
3	Economics	Microeconomics Macroeconomics Economic Policy
4	Criminal Justice	Criminology Criminal Law & Procedures
5	Risk Management	Risk Assessment Risk Management & Strategies
6	Data Analytics & Statistics	Statistical Analysis studies Anomaly detection through machine learning
7	Compliance & Ethics	Business Ethics Regulatory Compliance studies
8	Cybersecurity (related to AML)	Data & Information Security
9	International Business	International Business Law Global Business Practices
10	Business Communication	Written and oral Communication Skills Report Writing

Likewise, the pursuer of a compliance career should also have updated knowledge of the KYC AML regulations, legal requirements, and other relevant concepts. Besides, he must understand regulatory risk management and monitoring.

2) Compliance Officer Certifications

Firstly, you as a compliance officer would be expected to fulfill the criteria of basic conceptual knowledge about legal compliance. For this purpose, you can consider the following 5 courses to strengthen your knowledge and grip on Compliance.

Compliance Fundamentals: This course provides a comprehensive overview of compliance, including relevant laws and regulations, risk management, and best practices.
Anti-Money Laundering (AML): AML training covers identifying, reporting, and preventing money laundering and terrorist financing.
Data Privacy: This training teaches the importance of data privacy and relevant laws and regulations (such as GDPR). Also, you can learn how to properly handle and protect sensitive information.
Ethics and Code of Conduct: This training covers ethical considerations and developing a code of conduct for employees to follow.
Fraud Awareness: This training focuses on identifying, preventing, and responding to fraudulent activities in the workplace.

You can visit the links provided within the text to visit and register for these courses. Then, you shall be qualified for a senior compliance officer post. Furthermore, there are many online paid courses available at globally recognized training institutes, such as the following:

Udemy’s “Certificate of Compliance Management”
CISA Certification by ISACA
STEP Advanced Certificate in the Principles of International Taxation, AML, and Compliance
Certificate in AML by reed.co.uk

3) Ideal Skills Set for a Compliance Officer

A compliance officer needs to be highly skilled as it is a sensitive job that requires a watchful eye. Fintech firms, banks, and regulatory bodies that hire compliance professionals set a high standard for the skillset required for this job. Here are a few skills that a compliance officer should possess:

Regulatory Knowledge	Having a strong understanding of relevant financial regulations and laws. For KYC and AML, this includes knowledge of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the USA PATRIOT Act, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidelines, and other local and international regulations.
Attention to Detail	A compliance officer must be skilled in reviewing large volumes of data and documentation to identify discrepancies or suspicious activities.
Analytical Skills	Strong analytical skills are crucial for a compliance role to evaluate complex transactions & identify illegal activities.
Communication Skills	Compliance officers need effective communication skills by being able to articulate complex regulatory matters and present them to the relevant audience.
Investigation Skills	Compliance professionals are partially required to investigate suspicious activities to help the AML teams by gathering evidence and reporting.
Risk Assessment	Assessing the risk levels of specific customers, transactions & products is important in compliance. For this purpose understanding the risk factors, risk appetite & risk mitigation strategies is required as a core skillset.
Ethical Judgement	Ensuring that an institution is maintaining integrity by making ethical decisions about customer activities.
Technology Skills	Remaining updated with the latest KYC and AML technologies is an important skill for compliance professionals in today’s regulatory landscape. This helps in staying ahead of ever-evolving criminal tactics with technological advancements.
Foreign Language Skills	Depending on the institution and its clientele, proficiency in foreign languages may be beneficial for dealing with international clients and transactions.

Apart from the above list, adaptability, teamwork, industry awareness, and legal knowledge are important skills for compliance officers.

4) Compliance Officer Training

The training mentioned above courses enables individuals in the compliance field to get Advanced Compliance Officer Training. A firm can hire a professional compliance trainer to enhance the resources for the Training and development of the compliance team. However, it is important to note that compliance training is becoming a rising cost for firms. As Fincrime and Non-compliance are advancing, Compliance Training is also evolving. This has led to an increase in costs, and firms are concerned about it. Yet, these training courses can enhance the skillset and capabilities of the compliance workforce.

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Final Words

KYC AML Compliance has become a basic requirement for every fintech firm. Globally, Fincrime, like Money Laundering, Illicit funding, and others, is on the rise. Therefore, transaction monitoring is necessary to mitigate financial crime threats. Otherwise, this might lead to crimes as serious as terrorist activities or funding serious crimes like drug paddling or human trafficking. So, a compliance officer plays a key role in fighting the Fincrime and making the financial system safe and secure. Moreover, the Compliance Officer Certification helps to enhance the workability of a compliance professional. Likewise, it opens up new and advanced career options as a senior compliance officer or a regulator as well. Moreover, the Compliance Officer Training has the same goal of specifically targeting the professionals in the field.