BSA 2024 Compliance Salary Guide v2 SPREADS - Flipbook - Page 10
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Key trends affecting hiring in 2024
Various political, economic and social factors are
likely to have an impact on permanent and contract
hiring across the compliance and 昀椀nancial crime
space in 2024.
Junior talent shortages
In our 2023 salary guide, we noted that junior hiring,
graduate schemes and internal promotions had
suffered major setbacks due to organisations
delaying or halting their recruitment activities
during the pandemic.
This created a shortage of skilled candidates at the
entry level, as well as a lack of adequately trained
junior professionals ready to step up into AVP and
Associate roles.
Over the past 12 months, very little has changed.
Finding high-quality junior candidates continues
to be a challenge, and we’re beginning to see
how different organisations are trying to tackle
the problem.
Nearshoring and offshoring have become
increasingly common, with certain compliance
and 昀椀nancial crime activities being outsourced
to locations such as India and Poland. Some 昀椀rms
are also ramping up automation and AI projects
to handle more routine tasks.
While this may partly solve the immediate problem
of 昀椀lling empty roles, it could lead to longer-term
talent shortages in the future, with junior candidates
prevented from gaining the experience and technical skills they need to progress their careers.
New regulations and sanctions
The introduction of new sanctions and regulations
is often a key driver of hiring within compliance and
昀椀nancial crime, and 2024 is likely to be no exception.
Over the last 12 months, a series of regulatory
changes were announced, including the Edinburgh
Reforms – a set of 31 measures aimed at making
the UK a more attractive investment destination.
At the time of writing, 22 of the 31 reforms have
been completed. While a Treasury Select Committee
recently described the implemented changes
as a ‘damp squib’, upcoming reforms to the PRIIPS
regime and MiFID II reporting rules are expected
to make a bigger splash.
Meanwhile, the new Consumer Duty, which came
into force on July 31 last year, means 昀椀nancial
services 昀椀rms in the retail space are facing greater
FCA scrutiny over how they protect customers.
Retail banks, 昀椀ntechs, CFD brokers and spread
betting 昀椀rms are among the organisations that
will therefore require skilled regulatory compliance
professionals with expertise around conduct rules
to help them navigate these changes. Finding people
who recognise what response is appropriate for the
size of the business is often where the dif昀椀culty lies.
Within the sanctions space, the Russia-Ukraine war
continues to fuel activity across Europe and the US.
In December, the UK Government created a new
Of昀椀ce of Trade Sanctions Implementation to crack
down on any companies currently skirting Russian
sanctions. The same month, it also announced
new sanctions on businesses in China, Turkey,
the UAE and Serbia that are part of Russia’s military
supply chain.
As such, true sanctions specialists remain in high
demand. Those who have a mix of strong advisory
skills – often from a legal background – and
specialist monitoring skills are particularly soughtafter. These professionals can help organisations
