General Observations
As the year has progressed, we have seen a slight softening in demand for Compliance & Risk professionals as many organisations tighten their belts and bed down the numerous hires made in recent months and years. There was certainly a much more cautious approach to recruitment in Q2, not just within Compliance & Risk, but also across the financial services space. The banking sector has been particularly quiet, with hiring freezes imposed at a number of international banks, as they navigate challenging macroeconomic conditions. Our expectation is for a short-lived dip in hiring with recruitment activity picking up as the summer progresses. Demand across the Insurance, Investment Management and other MiFID entities has been somewhat sporadic and, in the main, dependent on turnover rather than expansion.
We also observed supply side related challenges throughout Q2, with Compliance & Risk professionals remaining generally passive and cautious about their next move, with most looking for significant incentives in terms of compensation or career progression. We have also seen a large percentage of firms heighten their focus on retention with many professionals now feeling well looked after by their current employers. With this in mind, employers need to be flexible when it comes to their wish-list of skills, budgets, benefits packages and hybrid working policies. In terms of the latter, we are seeing more companies putting structure around their work from home policies, with many landing on a mandatory 3 days in the office. This is often at odds with the expectations of employees, particularly those not living close to their workplace.
Skills in demand
As companies across the sector strengthen their Risk frameworks, we continue to see high demand for non-financial risk specialists who have implemented risk frameworks and have hands-on experience of RCSAs. Third Party Risk remains high on the agenda, with demand for both 1st and 2nd Line experience. In terms of the senior market, demand for CROs and Heads of Risk & Compliance has tended to come from payments, fintech or crypto companies.
Risk
As companies across the sector strengthen their Risk frameworks, we continue to see high demand for non-financial risk specialists who have implemented risk frameworks and have hands-on experience of RCSAs. Third Party Risk remains high on the agenda, with demand for both 1st and 2nd Line experience. In terms of the senior market, demand for CROs and Heads of Risk & Compliance has tended to come from payments, fintech or crypto companies.
Compliance
Throughout Q2, we continued to see high levels of demand for Financial Crime professionals as firms, particularly larger ones, continue to split Financial Crime responsibility away from Regulatory compliance, as a result of the PCF52 role being created. Compliance monitoring and outsourcing also continue to be skills in high demand and relative short supply across all sectors of the financial services industry. The Funds sector remained quite active in Q2 with strong demand for DPs and Support DPs.
Sample of Q2 successful assignments
- Head of Risk & Compliance – Credit Institution
- Head of Investment Management/ DP Investments – Investment Management
- Compliance Executive – Wealth Management
- Risk & Compliance Manager – Professional Services
- Non-Financial Risk Manager – Investment company
