Trump May Inadvertently Create A Huge Need For An Army of Compliance Professionals

Trump May Inadvertently Create A Huge Need For An Army of Compliance Professionals

 The Compliance Exchange  December 6, 2016  Compliance  HedgeFundsX, News and Current Events, Regulatory News and Developments, Wall Street Executive Jobs  

By Jack J. Kelly

Writing a newsletter for an intelligent audience is both a blessing and a curse. We do not have to dumb-it-down like main stream media does, however, I usually get an earful of how wrong I am from people much smarter than myself.

Today, I received a call from an experienced Compliance and Legal professional that I greatly respect, Sean Casey. Sean was happy to criticize my somewhat dour outlook on the future prospects of compliance and regulatory professionals.

Sean suggested (that is a polite way to phrase it) that ComplianceX should try to focus more on positive developments. Most of the time people complain but are unable to offer solutions. Sean had some great ideas (I was initially going to steal them and present as my own but then felt guilty) that I would like to share with you

His thesis is that Donald Trump’s desires to keep jobs based in the US, ensure that corporations are not gaming the tax system through “tax inversions” (where they acquire or merge with a foreign domiciled company to pay less taxes) and other tax avoidance techniques, “rip-up bad trade deals” with other countries, and stop massive governmental waste and corruption could create a boom for Compliance and related professionals.

Trump’s recent intervention with Carrier Corp. to save manufacturing jobs in Indiana, based where his Vice President-elect, Mike Pence, just happens to be the Governor, was relatively easy. The difficulty will arise when Trump attempts to reenact this behavior on a large scale.

How could Trump possibly look for 1,000s of companies that may be off-shoring jobs to other countries, avoiding taxes by having foreign based subsidiaries, and watch over all the government and state waste and corruption? He may need to create other regulatory divisions such as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Whistle-Blower unit to monitor these developments. Additionally, there may be a carrot-and-stick policy where Trump rewards certain behaviors such as keeping jobs in America and punishing those that are hiding assets elsewhere in the world. This would take a small army of compliance, legal, risk, audit and regulatory professionals to manage and police.

Here is another small example; if the Volcker Rule of Dodd-Frank fame is thrown out, proprietary trading at the big banks will start-up again. This would be a possible windfall for traders that have been displaced. Attorneys and compliance personnel will be needed to write new rules and regulations and then enforce them. This will hold true for many proposed regulatory changes.

Also, Trump has appointed smart savvy Wall Street, banking and private equity professionals to his administration. He has also assembled a “dream team” of CEOs to help guide him in creating new jobs and growing the economy.

If (and hopefully when) that happens, a reinvigorated economy with more jobs created will be great for everyone.

*Editors note from Devan Giordano- Check out some of Jack’s other recent articles here:

• The Billionaire Boys Club Is Coming To The Rescue
• Congratulations, You Made It Through The Full Week After A Long Thanksgiving Weekend!
• It May be Dark and Gloomy outside my window but the Future is Looking Brighter
• Wall Street May Be Great, Awesome, and Fun Again