Take your financial crime compliance experience in-house

If you're a financial crime compliance specialist working for a consultancy, now could be the right time to move to an in-house role. 

With salary increases of up to 20% as well as a clear path to career progression, the move to an in-house financial crime compliance role presents exciting opportunities for professionals ready to take the next step in their career.

Over the past 12 months we have seen banks looking for financial crime compliance specialists with a background working for a consultancy. 

“Professionals in consultancies who specialise in due diligence or business intelligence can expect a salary increase of up to 20% in their base salary when they make the move in-house, as well as gaining the opportunity to develop their skills and experience with  leading financial firms,” said Lewis Roman, Senior Consultant for financial crime compliance recruitment at Robert Walters.  

Four things you need on your CV to move in-house

For those keen to make a move to an in-house financial crime compliance role, there are several aspects of your experience that you need to highlight in your CV to help ensure your skills and experience match your potential employer's needs.

While experience in a consultancy is valuable in itself, tailoring your CV and focusing on gaining particular experience can help you stand out from the competition when applying for an in-house role.

• Exposure: take any opportunity to work on client facing projects, rather than those only involving desk-based research. Investment banks are slowly starting to move the due diligence function out of the back office into more prominent client facing divisions, meaning that client facing experience will be highly sought after in candidates.

• Education: practical experience is essential, but formal education can also help equip professionals with valuable skills to make a move in-house. It may be worth considering FCC qualifications (e.g. ICA/ACAMS) to bolster your profile, particularly if your practical experience in these areas is more limited.

• Languages: cross-border transactional due diligence is becoming more important as many banks look to do business in higher risk jurisdictions. As a result, many are seeking candidates with strong language skills – particularly those spoken in other high risk jurisdictions (Arabic, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish).

• Senior stakeholder engagement: Apart from client exposure, you should also opt to spend as much time engaging with senior stakeholders as possible. Experience in this area demonstrates a level of confidence and an ability to work across various levels of a business – definitely a skill worth having when making the move.

While there is no guaranteed strategy for securing an in-house role, by taking a proactive approach to developing additional high value skills and experience, you can place yourself in the strongest position to stand out from competitors.

If you would like to have a confidential conversation about your career aspirations or current job search, feel free to get in touch. Contact us at contact@robertwalters.com.