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Compliance and risk officer

Compliance and risk officer

Level 3 - Technical Occupation

Giving basic advice to financial services organisations on the legal and regulatory rules they must follow - such as those about data security or preventing money laundering.

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Summary

This occupation is found in all organisations in the financial services sector, including insurance and banking. Compliance and risk officers also work within finance functions across other sectors where a business may have financial compliance responsibilities, such as ensuring that financial organisations operate within the legal boundaries and industry standards.

Compliance and risk officers play a crucial role in ensuring regulatory adherence and minimising potential risks. They focus on legal and regulatory requirements, while identifying and managing potential risks. The role may vary based on the size of the organisation. In smaller organisations, they may work with a small multiskilled team. In larger organisations, they may specialise in one aspect of compliance and risk, for example financial crime or assurance.

The broad purpose of the occupation is to support businesses to meet their financial legal and regulatory obligations. This is achieved through supporting and maintaining a culture of compliance and conducting risk and assurance checks to monitor ongoing compliance. This is achieved through supporting and maintaining a culture of compliance, such as designing relevant training, and providing guidance to business areas on best practice. Compliance and risk officers work to meet key regulatory objectives to protect investors and ensure that markets are fair, efficient and transparent. They also seek to reduce system risk and financial crime.

Within the risk and compliance function of an organisation, the role of a compliance and risk officer will typically include providing guidance to the business in their specialist area, for example financial fraud.

An employee in this occupation would need to exercise judgement and discretion within specified parameters to evidence credibility, and will make evidence-based decisions on whether or not risk and compliance is being adhered to. On occasion they may need to escalate an issue to a manager.

Compliance and risk officers are typically based in an office. Depending on the size of the organisation they may work across multiple sites. There may also be a requirement for hybrid-working, combining office-based work and working from home.

In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with colleagues and teams across the organisation to offer advice and support on risk and compliance issues. They may need to interact with more senior colleagues to present information and data.

Compliance and risk officers work to mitigate legal and regulatory risks to avoid penalties and reputational damage. One of their primary responsibilities is to ensure that institutions operate within the boundaries of applicable laws and regulations. They take an active role in managing an organisation’s risk and reducing financial crime.

Depending on their role, they will interact with external stakeholders, such as small and medium enterprises and larger organisations, providing guidance and support to ensure policies on risk and compliance are being correctly applied and meet the legal and regulatory requirements of the finance sector. Typically, they would report to a senior manager with expertise in financial risk and compliance policy.

An employee in this occupation will be responsible for supporting an organisation’s adherence to compliance regulation and ensuring that risk is minimised. They may specialise in risk or compliance but can do both depending on the organisation. Within limited parameters, they will be responsible for making their own evidence-based decisions which follow the organisation’s financial policy and procedures. In some organisations they may be responsible for supervising or guiding others.

Typical job titles include:

Anti-money laundering specialist
Compliance officer
Financial crime officer
Risk officer

Keywords:

Accounting
Compliance
Finance
Financial Investigation
Internal Audit
Law
Risk

Knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs)

K1: Legal and regulatory framework relative to their industry.
K2: Role of the different regulators, and the implications of non-compliance for the organisation.
K3: Legal and regulatory requirements, for example the Financial Conduct Authority handbook, and the policies and procedures to implement these requirements.
K4: Risk and compliance requirements for their role, for example operational risk, financial crime, know your customer, training and competence, approved persons, conduct risk, complaints, data security.
K5: Range and purpose of organisations that are found in their wider industry, and their own organisation’s position within this landscape.
K6: Functions of the organisation and their relationship with risk and compliance policies and procedures.
K7: Impact that the external environment and legal and regulatory requirements have on the organisation and on their industry.
K8: Products and services offered to customers within their organisation and their industry relative to their role.
K9: Approaches to delivering fair customer outcomes, for example identifying vulnerable customers.
K10: Professional standards and best practice, and how these are applied.
K11: Systems, tools and processes that assist in identifying, managing and mitigating compliance and risk issues.
K12: Audit requirements and the responsibilities of the auditor and auditee.
K13: Policies and procedures for the identification and escalation of compliance issues and risks.
K14: Planning, prioritising and time management techniques.
K15: Communication methods, including verbal, non-verbal and written, and how to adapt communication to different audiences.
K16: Digital tools for research, analysis, and presentation of data through visualisation techniques.
K17: Data protection legislation and the processes for sharing and storing information safely and securely, including risks to data from cybercrime.
K18: Green and sustainable policies and practices and the role they play in the finance sector, and how to minimise negative impacts on environmental sustainability within the context of their role.

S1: Implement legal and regulatory framework requirements.
S2: Deliver risk and compliance services to stakeholders using organisational systems and processes.
S3: Plan and organise workloads to meet individual and team performance targets.
S4: Identify ways to reduce and mitigate incidents of non-compliance.
S5: Escalate compliance and risk issues where appropriate in line with organisational procedures.
S6: Manage records in order to meet audit requirements of the organisation.
S7: Produce evidence-based reports and management information for stakeholders considering visualisation techniques when presenting data.
S8: Select and use communication methods applicable to the audience and circumstances, for example, presentations, phone, face to face, email, virtual meetings.
S9: Communicate about products with customers, colleagues or stakeholders in different styles, for example visually, verbally, written, using e-comms.
S10: Build and maintain working relationships.
S11: Identify own training needs and seek feedback to improve performance and service delivered.
S12: Apply continuous improvement techniques when delivering improved compliance outcomes and mitigating risks.
S13: Record information electronically and make use of available technology, for example Management Information Systems (MIS), spreadsheets, presentation software, word processing, email, virtual communication.
S14: Handle data safely and securely and share information in compliance with data protection legislation and organisational policy.

B1: Acts in a professional and ethical manner.
B2: Maintains confidentiality and acts with due care and diligence.
B3: Seeks to continuously improve and develop themselves and their team.
B4: Adapts to, and is resilient in, challenging or changing situations.
B5: Keeps up to date with relevant legal, regulatory and other changes affecting the industry.
B6: Collaborates with and supports colleagues.

Duties

Duty D1

Perform risk and or compliance checks and reviews as directed by their line manager to determine whether established protocols are being followed and where they can be improved.

Duty D2

Identify and analyse risk and compliance issues within an organisation.

Duty D3

Undertake risk analysis to identify areas where risk can be mitigated to ensure organisations are fully compliant.

Duty D4

Embed risk and compliance processes and controls to ensure legal and regulatory compliance.

Duty D5

Contribute to embedding a culture of compliance within an organisation or organisations.

Duty D6

Prepare information in the form of reports for stakeholders within agreed deadlines.

Duty D7

Undertake compliance and risk research activities under the guidance of managers or senior leaders.

Duty D8

Deliver risk and compliance projects as and when required by managers or senior leaders.

Duty D9

Maintain organisational compliance and risk documentation and policies.

Duty D10

Support with regulatory correspondence and requests for information.

Duty D11

Use digital technology advancements in the management of risk and compliance.

Occupational Progression

This occupational progression map shows technical occupations that have transferable knowledge and skills.

In this map, the focused occupation is highlighted in yellow. The arrows indicate where transferable knowledge and skills exist between two occupations. This map shows some of the strongest progression links between the focused occupation and other occupations.

It is anticipated that individuals would be required to undertake further learning or training to progress to and from occupations. To find out more about an occupation featured in the progression map, including the learning options available, click the occupation.

Progression decisions have been reached by comparing the knowledge and skills statements between occupational standards, combined with individualised learner movement data.

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