Ready, Steady..

Monday 15th March 2010

By Bill Warren, managing director, Bill Warren Compliance LLP Compliance

As we edge ever closer to further feedback from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) on a number of consultation papers, most compliance professionals will be taking a deep breath in preparation for the volume of reading they will have to do.

This will be followed by the need to fully understand and document exactly what those changes mean in practical and strategic terms for their individual firms. Having identified the changes or improvements that are needed, the challenge then becomes one of ensuring the business embraces these, not an easy task depending upon the culture of the firm involved.

Why have I mentioned the above? Not for a sympathy vote, but to emphasise that compliance people do have to be multi-skilled and have strong interpersonal and selling skills, which is not the standard image of a compliance team. 
 
The proliferation of consultation papers, discussion papers and final rules spewing out of Canary Wharf in the first six months of 2010 must be close to a record. With the aftermath of the credit crunch and many holding the view that the mortgage market is badly broken, compliance individuals will be interacting with their sales colleagues in particular over the next few weeks and months.

No doubt we shall also see and hear a great deal from the political parties as they compete for votes by convincing us that all will be better with their colour nailed to the mast of government!
 
Is it any wonder that the financial services industry doesn’t have the career pull it once had. Fewer quick bucks, little or no obvious flair and creativity in product or service delivery or design and so many rules to abide by.

Haven’t we been here before? More than once in fact, through the early nineties and for those a little more mature, the mid to late seventies. The single common thread remains that we are a resourceful industry that responds positively to such challenges.

Many of the enlightened have embraced the need for an integrated compliance function that is totally involved in the business in a positive way ensuring their firm survives and grows.
 
Bill launched Bill Warren Compliance LLP in early 2008 a compliance consultancy specialising in Mortgage, SARB and GI, has worked in the mortgage industry for 41 years.

Bill is a board member of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) and also holds two non-executive director positions with a large General Insurance Provider part of the Assurant Group and Complete Mortgage & Loan Services,  a mortgage distribution firm.