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Skills and Attributes of a Compliance Officer

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Title: Skills and Attributes of a Compliance Officer. Have you ever wondered which skills and attributes are useful when working in compliance? If you currently work in compliance, have you considered how your own skills measure up? Here’s a quick look at some of the skills and attributes that a compliance professional may need. Six boxes, which include the following information: 1. Organizational skills The role of a compliance professional can often require the management of more than one review/assessment/report at any one time, and this multi-tasking will often involve several different departments too, each potentially requiring the management of confidential or sensitive information. Have you thought about: • Is it common for you to be working on multiple projects? Does this impact on the quality of the work you produce? • Are you able to meet challenging deadlines in respect of your work? • Can you remain calm and positive when managing multiple projects? 2. Attention to detail and the bigger picture Accurate analysis of regulatory detail will ensure the understanding of its meaning is not missed, and the risk of errors will be minimized. Awareness of the bigger picture allows for an appreciation of what the regulators are trying to accomplish with regulation (and changes to regulation), and will ensure a fuller understanding of how the details should best be applied. Have you thought about: • Do you regularly keep abreast of regulatory changes and developments, even if they’re not directly related to your role? • Are you able to analyse and interpret a regulation from the perspective of how it impacts your firm? • Are you able to pay close attention to detail when reading regulations? 3. Skills for the future Compliance is a key function in terms of facilitating effective change and developing commercial advantage. Strategy and technology are becoming increasingly important in the lives of compliance professionals as firms look beyond the fundamentals of compliance with regulation into areas such as conduct and customer engagement. Have you thought about: • Do you understand the strategic objectives of your firm and how you can contribute? • How is technology impacting on the way your firm does business? • How can you evolve and influence the change agenda? 4. Risk assessment capabilities Risk assessment is a vitally important part of a firm’s compliance function. It allows a firm’s objectives to be identified, which helps to steer the management of the risks accordingly to increase the likelihood of these objectives being met. The ability to assess alternatives and make a decision based on the risk is critical. Have you thought about: • How well does your firm identify and assess its risks? Do you know what they are? • Are you confident that your board has visibility of the risks its firm is exposed to? • What level of monitoring does your firm apply to the risks identified? 5. Interpersonal skills and effective communication Compliance professionals tend to have contact with a wide variety of different people as part of their role, including senior management, the rest of the business staff, customers and regulators. Have you thought about: • Are you comfortable in building relationships with both internal and external stakeholders? • Are you able to produce written communication in different formats, e.g. formal communications or escalations to senior managers, informal updates or writing policies and procedures? • How much contact does your role currently require you to have with different departments across your firm? 6. Ability to interpret The sheer quantity of rules and guidance out there governing the way in which financial services firms are required to practice is colossal. Not all rules are black-and-white so the ability to work within the grey areas is a key skill of the compliance professional. Have you thought about: • Do you understand the difference between the ‘spirit’ of a rule and the fundamental meaning of a rule? • Why is it important to consider the customer in how rules are interpreted? • How regularly does your organization review upcoming rules/policy changes, and what is the process for interpreting these?

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This article forms part of the #BigCompConvo - Join us as we explore and debate the latest challenges and issues facing you and regulatory and financial crime compliance professionals all over the world. If you’d like to contribute an article as part of the Big Compliance Conversation get in touch with us at contributions@int-comp.org