Morgan McKinley's 2020 Compliance Salary Guide outlines remuneration and trends in the workplace for temporary and permanent compliance people all over the United Kingdom.

Recruitment of permanent compliance people was consistently busy for a number of years up until last year, but in 2019 there were far fewer regulatory projects and natural recruitment attrition was at a low ebb, causing banks to hire fewer people. On the whole, Brexit had a profound effect. Despite the fact that the UK had voted to leave the European Union as far back as 2016, the ruling Conservative Party was still delaying that departure with all its might, while the Liberal Democrat Party was unapologetically promising to ignore the poll and vote against Brexit and the Labour Party was planning a second referendum on the same subject, promising to campaign for the overturning of the first referendum. Against this background of uncertainty, people who might otherwise have applied for compliance jobs waited for the outcome of the general election in December, which returned a strongly pro-Brexit Conservative Government and settled the matter once and for all.

Perm and temp

In the permanent market in particular, large wholesale banks significantly hired fewer people in 2019, having used the majority of their recruitment budgets in other areas over previous years. That said, it has not all been doom and gloom; there has been much recruitment at the mid-senior level on the part of medium-sized financial institutions, as well as those with branches in London which have been trying to 'Brexit-proof' themselves.

In a number of ways, the temporary compliance recruitment market in 2019 mirrored the market for permanent appointments. The biggest influence on it came from the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, leading a number of firms to vacillate over whether to make appointments. That being said, firms undertook some hiring projects when they needed to acquire interim workers in new jurisdictions, hiring people to set up companies in different locations and implement regulatory regimes and anti-money-laundering and/or know-your-customer (AML/KYC) projects. For these projects, the firms hired only temporary compliance people who were the closest matches for the vacancies in question, whereas in the past organisations had been more lenient. Alongside the lower levels of hiring in comparison with recent years, firms found many posts incredibly difficult to fill because there were few candidates for them.

Top 3 permanent compliance jobs

• Compliance monitoring officer (AVP/VP - Investment Banking/Asset Management)
• Compliance advisory manager (Asset Management)
• Financial crime monitoring/assurance

Top 3 temporary compliance jobs

• Compliance monitoring officer/manager
• AML and transaction monitoring analyst
• Regulatory SMEs

Prominent benefits in compliance in general

It has been growing in popularity for a few years, but flexible or 'agile' working is now rife everywhere in compliance. Helped along by technological advances, compliance folk can now work remotely and perform their jobs with ease from whatever location they want and in the hours that suit them best (within reason). Any employers that do not offer the opportunity to work flexibly run the risk of missing out on talented people, particularly at the senior end of the market where they are more likely to want to spend time with their families and balance their work with their lives.

Beyond this, financial firms are paying a great deal of attention to the wellbeing of employees. Numerous firms, big and small, are offering discounted gym memberships or in some cases even having gyms built on-site. More and more of them are also now flexible towards religious beliefs, in turn creating an inclusive working environment that boosts productivity.

Predictions for 2020

Although many areas of the economy will flounder in the wake of the Brexit débâcle, the decision that the UK made back in 2016 will continue to create opportunities for compliance people.

With changes to IR35 expected to come into play in April, contractors should be mindful and open to all opportunities. Unless the Government delays these accounting changes, it is inevitable that the hiring of contractors will slow down drastically and firms will concentrate on permanent recruitment or PAYE contracts as they decide how they want their workforces to look.

Permanent compliance jobs

Job Title                                    Low                   Average           High
Compliance advisory...........£80,000.........£110,000........£140,000
Compliance, corporate
finance advisory..................£80,000.........£110,000........£140,000
Compliance assistant..........£30,000.........£40,000.........£45,000
Compliance generalist........£40,000.........£50,000.........£60,000
Compliance, head of...........£100,000........£150,000........£200,000
Compliance manager
(Financial Services)............£70,000.........£85,000.........£100,000
Compliance monitoring
officer..................................£50,000.........£60,000.........£70,000
Compliance officer..............£50,000.........£60,000.........£70,000
Compliance regulatory
officer..................................£70,000.........£80,000.........£90,000
Compliance testing
and reviews.........................£70,000.........£95,000.........£120,000
Compliance DCM advisory.£80,000.........£110,000........£140,000
Compliance ECM Advisory.£80,000.........£110,000........£140,000
Legal compliance
manager/director...............£100,000........£120,000........£140,000
AML analyst.......................£40,000.........£50,000.........£60,000
AML, head of......................£100,000........£110,000........£120,000
AML manager.....................£70,000.........£80,000.........£90,000
Investigations officer..........£40,000.........£45,000.........£50,000
Fraud analyst......................£40,000.........£45,000.........£50,000
DMLRO..............................£80,000.........£95,000.........£110,000
MLRO.................................£100,000........£140,000........£180,000
Financial crime officer.......£50,000.........£60,000.........£70,000
KYC analyst........................£30,000.........£45,000.........£55,000
KYC, head of.......................£80,000.........£90,000.........£100,000
KYC manager......................£70,000.........£75,000.........£80,000
Periodic reviews.................£30,000.........£40,000.........£50,000

Contract compliance jobs

Job title                                    Low                Average        High
Compliance advisory...........£500............£750............£900
Compliance assistant..........£150.............£250............£300
Compliance generalist.........£400............£600............£800
Compliance, head of............£700............£900............£1,200
Compliance manager
(financial services)..............£500............£700............£800
Compliance monitoring
officer...................................£250............£450............£600
Compliance officer..............£300............£450............£600
Compliance regulatory
officer..................................£500............£750............£900
Compliance testing
and reviews.........................£250............£450............£600
Compliance DCM advisory.£500............£700............£800
Compliance ECM Advisory.£500............£700............£800
Legal compliance
manager/director................£800............£900............£1,200
AML analyst........................£200............£350............£500
AML, head of.......................£700............£800............£1,000
AML manager......................£500............£700............£800
Investigations officer..........£200............£350............£450
Fraud analyst......................£200............£350............£450
DMLRO...............................£500............£750............£900
MLRO..................................£600............£850............£1,100
Financial crime officer........£400............£650............£800
KYC analyst.........................£200............£300............£500
KYC, head of........................£500............£700............£800
KYC manager.......................£450............£550............£700
Periodic reviews...................£200............£300............£500

* Caleb Hawkins can be reached at chawkins@morganmckinley.co.uk