Fancy a job in risk and compliance? Well now’s your time to shine; according to a new report.
Following an unprecedented year of regulatory initiatives with only more to come, UK banks are currently advertising record numbers of risk and compliance jobs.
This is according to the latest research of global recruiters Morgan McKinley and data analysts Vacancysoft, which highlights how UK banks sought 8,750 risk and compliance (R&C) specialists in 2021, representing a 98.9 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase and a 67.3 per cent increase on pre-pandemic levels.
Jobs rose further in 2022 with banks publishing 850 R&C vacancies in January, 87.6 per cent more than the same month in 2019. Overall banking vacancies, meanwhile, hit an all-time monthly high of 2,990 new jobs — breaking the previous record, set in October 2021, by 3.1 per cent.
“The start of 2022 saw a dramatic improvement in risk, compliance and financial crime recruitment. Hiring for permanent risk and compliance professionals was busy at the end of 2021 and showed no signs of slowing down — to the backdrop of what people called ‘The Great Resignation‘ and the post-pandemic bounce-back predicted for financial services,” explains Ben Harris, Associate Director, Head of Governance, Compliance, IA and Risk Management, Morgan McKinley.
“With the easing of coronavirus measures banks, having made significant cuts to their staff, needed the talent to join their teams again. The recruitment market is candidate-led, with job-seekers in 2022 being offered multiple options. In addition, the onset of bonus season will flood the market with talent that wasn’t previously looking, requiring institutions to move quickly on offering roles.”
Credit analyst and KYC compliance roles experience the fastest growth
Out of specialist roles within R&C, functions focusing solely on compliance have made up the bulk of all hiring since at least 2019, totalling nearly 1,800 jobs in 2021. This accounts for nearly a third of all the R&C roles available, and represents an uptick of 57.4 per cent YoY.
The most notable surges in recruitment, however, were for KYC compliance and credit analysts, with hiring levels up 192.7 per cent and 560 per cent YoY, respectively. Vacancies for KYC specialists were found to be the most resilient in 2020 — the first year of the pandemic — with numbers up 21.7 per cent YoY while hiring for other R&C functions floundered.
Who’s employing who?
Citi finished 2021 as the dominant hirer of R&C specialists in the UK, publishing nearly 920 vacancies, a rise of 84.7 per cent YoY and 470.2 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels. Jobs at Santander were up 185.8 per cent YoY, whilst being up 82.3 per cent from 2019. JPMorgan, second in 2021, recorded nearly 500 new R&C jobs.
This snapshot of the report represents who the top 20 companies hiring for R&C are:
Vacancies at Nationwide saw the biggest YoY surge out of all 20 banks, with R&C hiring levels up 608.7 per cent YoY and 81.1 per cent from 2019. The smallest rise was at Deutsche Bank, where recruitment grew by only 12.8 per cent YoY.
“There has been a general increase in salaries across risk disciplines as demand for specific skill sets increases, leading to average pay increases of 20 to 25 per cent, and even higher in some cases,” Harris continues. “We have also noted some very aggressive counteroffers, as firms do all they can to hang onto key talent. We expect this trend to certainly continue well into the second half of 2022.”
