Qualifications you should take, as recommended by your peers in Compliance & Financial Crime

Educate Yourself: Compliance & Financial Crime

A hiring manager’s perspective

When speaking with a client recently I asked, “what are the skill shortages today?” We spoke about this for a while, but the conversation moved in a different direction. His feeling was the answer isn’t as straightforward as you would think.

One of the main challenges for hiring managers when viewing potential candidates is - they can never be sure how well someone knows their subject matter.

This is especially true when interviewing candidates from a different area of financial services. They ask themselves “can someone from this type of background understand how things work in our business?”

Compliance skills can be taught, and knowledge can be acquired - but hiring managers are more confident about candidates who can demonstrate they’ve put some real effort into learning their craft. In an ideal world, everyone would have direct work experience, but if you don’t, you can differentiate yourself from the rest with industry recognised qualifications.

Educate yourself

We all know the importance of education and professional development, but it seems hiring managers within compliance aren’t seeing enough candidates who upskill themselves of their own accord.

Don’t get us wrong, there are plenty of candidates who ARE passionate about developing their knowledge and skills. We know plenty of people who have undertaken studies in their spare time, and it’s usually those candidates making advancements in their careers.

Below is a note I received from one of my contacts and she wasn’t the only one who made career progress after undertaking studies:

“I completed the ICA compliance diploma last year and it was great, and definitely played a part in securing the role I'm currently in.”

Many firms offer sponsored study packages to help improve the quality of their human capital, but don’t rely on your employer or future employers to enrol you on a course. As a candidate you can demonstrate commitment to the industry and passion for the subject matter when you choose to self-study.

A list of Compliance & Financial Crime qualifications

Over the last month or so I’ve been in discussion with many different compliance and financial crime practitioners. The aim was to establish the most recognised and respected qualifications. They’ve all been gracious enough to help me with this and I’ve compiled my findings below.

Qualifications for regulatory compliance professionals:

ICA – International Compliance Association

The most popular suggestion from my network, for obvious reasons. Start at the introductory level (￡) and work toward the advanced certificate (￡￡), and then finally, the Diploma (￡￡￡). There was only one suggestion for the Post Grad, but it’s for experts. If you’re at the top of your game and looking to take things one step further, then go for it – mind you it’s very expensive. Otherwise start with these:

Certificate in Compliance: ￡595.00 + VAT (introductory)

International Advanced Certificate in Compliance: ￡1725.00 + VAT (intermediate)

International Diploma in Compliance: ￡3450.00 + VAT (advanced)

Membership: ￡102.00 (1 year)

N.B. feedback from one person was to start with the advanced certificate. Feel free to skip the introductory level certificate if you already have a base level of knowledge.

CISI – Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments

Not as popular as ICA, mainly due to ICA also being the first stop for AML qualifications. However, this is a great option for the unemployed – CISI offer concessionary rates for unemployed individuals. As the name suggests, it’s a little more specialist. Thinking about moving into investments from banking? Take this one into consideration:

Diploma in Investment Compliance: ￡288.00 (exam) + ￡171.00 (workbook)

Membership: ￡168.75 (1 year) + ￡30 joining fee

Qualifications for financial crime practitioners:

ICA

As mentioned before the ICA seems to be the most popular professional body for both compliance and financial crime qualifications. Below are some suggestions I received from the financial crime pros:

Certificate in Anti Money Laundering: ￡595.00 + VAT (introductory)

International Advanced Certificate in AML: ￡1725.00 + VAT (intermediate)

Diploma in Financial Crime Prevention: ￡3450.00 + VAT (advanced)

Membership: ￡102.00 (1 year)

Specialist suggestion:

ICA certificate in Managing Sanctions Risk: ￡595.00 + VAT (introductory)

ACAMS - Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists

Roughly one third of the people I spoke to mentioned ACAMS - it’s beginning to gain more respect and recognition in the industry, some even regard CAMS as an international standard of certification for the industry and recommend it as their first choice. According to one person, there seems to be more of a focus on having CAMS alongside the ICA AML advanced certificate these days. It’s definitely worth considering:

CAMS certification package: $1595.00

Membership: $295.00 (1 year)

Specialist suggestions:

AML for FinTechs certificate: $395.00

Cyber Enable Crime certificate: $395.00

Virtual Currency and Blockchain certificate: $395.00

As you can see, they have some more specialist certificates for those who are involved in the FinTech side of things. One to have for the future, maybe.

Other suggestions

Below is a list of other suggestions I received:

CISI – Investment Operations Certificate (IOC)

Very well regarded by the investment side, it will give you a good understanding of FS.

The first unit is an ‘Introduction to securities and investment’ and the second is ‘UK financial regulation’ and at least one other module determined by your role.

‘Project management qualification’

No specific recommendation on this one but it’s fair to say PRINCE2 is the most recognised. According to their website, 88% people said it helped them in their career. Could it do the same for you?

IMC – Investment Management Certificate

This is an entry level qualification for investment management. You’ll get an insight into “portfolio management, research analysis and other front office activities”.

Final thoughts

If you are passionate about your job and want to make a long lasting and fulfilling career out of it, then recognise the importance of professional development. It’s a commitment you should make if you want to take things to the next level professionally.

Give yourself the chance to thrive by putting in some work. You’ll thank yourself later.

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We hope you have enjoyed this article.

Canbury Partners is a specialist recruitment firm operating in the Compliance and Financial Crime market. We are committed to delivering helpful insights to the industry.

We're not just recruiting for your market, we're invested in it.

T: +44 203 916 0131 / E: [email protected]