SOME EXPERIENCED COMPLIANCE OFFICERS ARE DECLINING POSITIONS AT BANKS WITH REGULATORY HISTORIES

If you were wondering why you have seen some really good compliance positions at major banks remaining open and unfilled for months, it's because experienced compliance officers are themselves performing due diligence upon the financial institutions offering those good jobs, and ignoring those banks that have histories of repeated regulatory fines and civil penalties, or who are named in money laundering cases for failing to identify and interdict major criminal organizations.

If you have a good resume, the last thing you want to do is to be associated with a bank known for having an ineffective AML program, whether that be in correspondent banking relationships, permitting major sanctions violations, facilitating Russian organized crime or oligarch operations, or other major cases in the news. Being tied to such a bank, which considers repeatedly paying such fines as a necessary part of its operation, while enjoying record profits, can be fatal to the career of a senior compliance officer.

You cannot simply delete such a bank from your resume, when you are out in the job market trying to forget you ever worked there. There is also another serious consideration: what if law enforcement chooses to pursue you, either as a witness, or worse, as a target. In that case, your last job has turned into an occupational nightmare.

To those major banks whose plum compliance positions remain unfilled, and who have taken to asking current employees if they have anyone in mind to take those slots, you may want to examine whether your existing plan, suffering civil fines & penalties from time to time, but not changing your corporate culture, is resulting in your perceived unsuitability as an employer.