Fancy doing a financial services job which is booming, where you’ll find work easily and will probably become more important with time? Fancy doing that same job when you’ll earn a fraction of front- office revenue generating bankers and will be at high risk of burnout? Good, then compliance is the career for you.
Bloomberg reiterates what everyone knows already: experienced compliance professionals are as sought-after as anti-ageing serums in Florida. Their allure has only increased following the big fines levied against banks like BNP Paribas. “It’s actually a very hot market right now,” Mike Roemer, head of compliance at Barclays told Bloomberg. Compliance is seen, “as an integral part of how companies manage the overall risk of the organization,” Roemer added.
But there’s a problem. Compliance pay is rising – it was up 13% in 2013 according to recruitment firm Astbury Marsden, yet compliance professionals are still paid far less than front office bankers. And if you work in compliance, there’s an increasing chance that your career will come to a premature end through burnout.
Astbury Marsden estimates that the average compliance professional earned just under £100k in 2013 – comprised of an £80.5k average salary and an £18.6k average bonus. This doesn’t sound too bad, until you look at Astbury Marsden’s estimates for the average pay of revenue generators (a £91k salary and a £91k bonus).
Compliance professionals could argue that their pay doesn’t factor in the role’s rising stress levels, which make burnout increasingly likely. Investigations into past misdemeanours are gruelling for the compliance professionals involved. People are getting burned out. Remember Hector Sants? Is it worth it?
Separately, retail bankers are causing problems at Barclays. CEO Antony Jenkins is, needless to say, a retail banker by design and Jenkins has been bringing wealth managers at the bank under his previous retail banking umbrella. People at Barclays Wealth are leaving as a result. The latest departure, reported in the Financial Times is Rory Tobin, the former global head of investments and solutions at the bank. Tobin is unlikely to be the last to leave. “Whatever Barclays says, it does not want to serve high net worth and ultra high net worth clients – you do not put a private client division under retail,” complains one Barclays Wealth employee. “[Barclays Wealth] has gone from [being a business that is] about growth and serving clients’ needs to one that is about cost cutting and restructuring,” says another.
Meanwhile:
Private bankers are receiving ‘consistently high salaries’ but there may be too many of them. (Financial Times)
Why interdealing broking careers aren’t so great now. ICAP’s Michael Spencer: ““We’re moving into a world where the level of volumes are pretty dire and are likely to remain thus. It’s as bad a drought as I’ve experienced in my entire career….There are no positive spots at all… We’ve got five global broking firms — in my opinion two or three would suffice.” (Bloomberg)
ICAP is cutting broker jobs.(Reuters)
It’s not all good for asset management careers. There’s pressure from globalisation, regulation, investor demands for non-traditional assets, and heavy competition. (WSJ)
If you want to be a prop trader, get yourself to a bank in Europe. (Bloomberg)
Thanks to legal charges, profits at Bank of America fell 43%. (WSJ)
On Bank of America – “The sins are seven years old and the things that are going on in the future look bright.” (Reuters)
Bank of America is gaining share in equity trading. (WSJ)
Thomas Sheehan, a healthcare banker who spent 20 years at Morgan Stanley, is moving to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. (Financial News)
Are you a trading technologist moving to a new job? Make sure you don’t take any code with you – especially on Wall Street. (Bloomberg)
You’ll need five security cards to access a trading desk at Citadel. (BusinessInsider)
The cost of capital in investment banking is thought to be 10%. Goldman achieved an ROE of 10.9% last quarter and JPMorgan achieved an ROE of 11%. (WSJ)
What’s the difference between a CV and a resume and when should you use them? (UndercoverRecruiter)
Related articles:
When naïve traders agree to informal bonus formulae. BofA’s big junior hiring won’t benefit interns
End of the ex-Goldman banker who hired hundreds, wanted to fire them all. Unnerving calm upsetting traders’ psyches
Where to find 8,500 finance jobs a month. When senior bankers’ sons get summer jobs in banking
