Salaries soar for sought-after compliance professionals

The number of compliance jobs advertised in the UK has risen by 14% this quarter – and an ‘acute shortage’ of compliance professionals means salaries are spiralling.

Figures published in the Robert Walters European Job Index suggest that regulatory pressure and concerns over financial crime, fuelled by a string of high profile cases in which non-compliant firms have been issued fines, has led to a sharp spike in the number of job openings in this area. The increase is particularly high for senior level position, companies including Aviva, Barclays, RBS and EY all recruiting senior risk and compliance staff in the past two months.

Due to a nationwide shortage of qualified applicants, says Robert Walters, many recruiters and employers are having to pay well over the market rate to secure the best candidates as quickly as possible. Hiring managers are also looking to entice professionals with audit and operational risk backgrounds to cross over into the compliance monitoring sector.

Even junior positions in compliance can fetch salaries of £65,000, according to efinancialcareers.  “Some firms are getting 50 to 60 people in at a time… Some of these people have 12-18 months’ experience,” said Andrew Adams, Head of Compliance Audit and Operations at McGregor Boyall. “Salaries year on year are up by between 11% and 14%. There is a war on talent out there again. It feels like the late 90s and early 2000s and I think it is going to continue.”