By Ilaria Grasso Macola
Financial services firms around the world are at risk of being hit by shortages of compliance staff due to a surge in the volume of regulatory change.
According to a research published today by Thomson Reuters, while 74 per cent of financial services companies expect their regulatory burden to increase in the next year, 61 per cent believe their teams will not grow in size.
In the UK, numbers are even higher, as 65 per cent of businesses will not recruit additional compliance specialists.
An increase in the cost of senior compliance staff and budgetary restraints feature among the reasons behind the potential shortages.
“Financial services firms face extremely high levels of regulatory activity yet headcount within compliance functions is expected to remain relatively flat,” said Susannah Hammond, senior regulatory intelligence expert at Thomson Reuters.
“This means teams will be forced to pick up more work, putting them under considerable pressure.”
Companies might outsource the excess workload or use more technology, Hammond added.
Research published in May by digital accountancy platform LemonEdge showed that 31 per cent of financial services and banking professionals plan to leave the industry due to high pressure and a heavy workload.
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