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Introduction
The aim of this report is to outline the qualifications, skills and attributes that are essential in becoming a
Regulatory compliance manager at a bank. Furthermore, understand the nature of the job and the tasks
that are carried out on a day to day basis. Therefore, this report will include information gathered from
an interview with a manager in that respected position as well as some addition information found online
regarding this position.
Interview
The interview was conducted with Basma Al Shammasi the Regulatory Compliance Manager Advisory at
Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation HSBC, Bahrain. The aim of this interview was to understand
the nature of this position and the compliance industry as a whole. The interview was held at Starbucks
in Saar Mall on Monday 9th of April at 5:00pm.
The interviewee (Ms. Basma) was asked general questions regarding the company she is working at, which
is (HSBC). The questions were concerning the growth of the company, its Bahrainization rate and whether
the company is actively recruiting. According the respected manager, the company is growing as it has
approximately 250 employees in Bahrain only. Around 50% of these employees are Bahrainis according
to the approximate Bahrainization rate provided. Moreover, the interviewee mentioned that the company
is actively recruiting new employees.
The interviewee was then asked about the qualifications needed for the job position and she stated that
having a bachelor’s degree in the business field is the minimum qualification plus some experience.
However, she also outlined the benefit for having other certifications which would help in making the
applicant more appealable to the employers. Such examples would be ICA which is the International
Advanced Certificate in Compliance.
Subsequently, the interviewee was questioned about the skills that are important to carry out this job
position. The following skills are stated below:
Fast learner – It is particularly important that the person in charge of this job is a fast learner, this is
because one of the task associated with this job is learning and diarizing the local regulations and bank
policies that are issued by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). Thus, it is essential that the person learns
these new policies quickly and then informs the business (HSBC) about how they should go on with their
work in line with the newest regulations.
Time management – This is another important skill that should be attained by the person in this job, since
there are reporting deadlines that should be completed in a timely manner. And not completing those
reports in time is not an option because they should be presented to the management at specific times
regarding the company’s compliance for a specific period and suggestions that should be made.
Working under pressure – Due to the nature of the work, the person in charge receives an immense
amount of emails daily. Those emails should be read and replied to with the necessary information
requested by the fellow employees in the company.
Sensible judgment – As part of this job, the person is responsible for giving advice to the organization
about its current operation measures. They should be able to judge the situation and see whether the
company is in compliance with the local regulations and banking policies.
Challenging skills – The person in charge also must challenge the organization when it decides to take
certain decisions or actions in order to be transparent with the customers as well as ensuring that the
business is making the right decisions.
Communication skills – This is another vital skill as the person would be communicating with internal (ex.
employees) and external (ex. CBB) therefore they need to portray their messages in good manner. This is
because the CBB could withdraw the company’s licenses if the company doesn’t cooperate with its
representatives. In addition, the person receives circulars from the CBB, for example a circular regarding
the change of the 5BD note has been issued. Therefore, as the compliance manager you must ensure that
all the company’s ATMs should accept this new note by the stipulated date.
Finally, the interviewee was asked about the personal attributes necessary to succeed in this job. The
interviewee said that being communicative is important as mentioned above. This is due to the nature of
work and the need to communicate with different people all the time. In addition, the person should be
consistent as their work should be of a certain standard. Moreover, its important to be focused and
knowledgeable about the regulations and local policies to be able to stay proactive and ensure that the
company is complying and resolves any issues before they get to a critical point.
Research
According to the research carried out, a compliance manager is a qualified person who keeps the
legitimate and moral honesty of an organization in place through strategy implementation and program
arranging. They ensure all departments of the company are conforming to the regulations and polices the
organization upholds. (Sokanu, n.d).
Subsequently, after researching about the main responsibilities of a compliance manager. The core
responsibilities are as follows; create and supervise control frameworks to prevent any infringement of
any laws or regulations and internal guidelines. Additionally, Review the work of employees to ensure
compliance with regulations and identify issues if any are present. Moreover, Prepare reports for upper
management and external financial regulator’s as and when appropriate. Furthermore, keep up with any
new laws that would affect financial institutions (workable, n.d).
According to research, the main competencies is being ethical and principled because the job deals with
making sure the company is complying with laws. Being diligent is another competency as they should be
diligent in their work to find issues and solve them thereafter. In addition to being proactive and the
willingness to keep learning as mentioned above (Morrissey, n.d).
As for the qualifications and requirements to be a regulatory compliance manager, the minimum
educational level is bachelors in the business field. And with often a minimum of five years experiences is
needed, according to the research findings (getsmarter, n.d).The basic salary is around BD 900-1300
(COREcruitment, 2018).
PART B
Analysis
After conducting the interview and carrying out the research about this job position, it became noticeably
clear that the information from both sources are similar in a lot of the points. This is because they are
basically informing me about the same job position. Their may be some slight differences in competencies
for example. However, every person believes a certain competency is more important than another
depending on their experience in the job. As per findings, the salary of the job position is within BD900 to
BD1300. However, I have not asked the interviewee a question regarding the salary because it may make
her uncomfortable as would not want to give any indication of what her salary may be. Furthermore,
these similarities are apparent because regulatory compliance is related to complying with the local and
international laws and therefore the job has consistent standard all over the globe.
Reflection
To ponder upon the information that I have gathered through the interview and the research about the
job, I have concluded that this job position suits my personality and attributes in so many ways. For
example, I consider myself as a fast learner as I pick up quickly with new material that is being taught in
university and I work well under pressure. Moreover, this job also pays well which will enable me to have
a certain lifestyle that I am keen on having in the future. Furthermore, even though I am currently majoring
in accounting the job requires any business field thus I am still capable of diverting my career path towards
regulatory compliance. Completing my bachelor’s in Accountancy (BACC) at the polytechnic would provide
me with exemptions to 9 out of the 14 ACCA exams. Thus, I am still considering completing those 5 exams
and then attain the ICA certificate as well. This would show that I am knowledgeable in both accountancy
plus regulatory compliance. And would make it easier for me to do the job in reviewing the work of
colleges at work to ensure compliance as I am aware of the accounting standards like IFRS and IASB.
GulfInsider. (2017, April 4). Bahrain Moves to Diversify Economy. Retrieved from GulfInsider:
http://www.gulf-insider.com/bahrain-moves-to-diversify-economy/
Morrissey, A. (n.d). The role of a compliance officer. Retrieved from Robert Walters:
https://www.robertwalters-usa.com/career-advice/the-role-of-a-compliance-officer.html
Sokanu. (n.d). What does a Compliance Manager do? Retrieved from sokanu:
https://www.sokanu.com/careers/compliance-manager/
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