Compliance contracts - back door into banking?

No traineeship? Then a temporary contract in compliance may be your route into investment banks.

Chris Hickey, director of professional services recruitment at Robert Walters, says compliance contracts are viable entry points for recent graduates without traineeships: "The market has been busy and a lot of banks are just looking to bring on intelligent individuals who can pick things up quickly."

Hickey says contracts last three to six months, pay around 14 per hour, and typically involve work related to money laundering.

Under the European Union's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), which is set to be implemented in November 2007, banks are required to specify whether clients are professional clients, retail clients, or professional counterparties. Hickey says contractors are typically employed on projects to reclassify existing clients along these lines.

Roles are open to graduates who have a 2.i, preferably in a finance-related subject, or law. No previous financial services experience is necessary.

A stint as a contractor will be most helpful to your future prospects if it entails exposure to a particular financial asset class.

Hickey says graduates who've spent six months working on equities or fixed income anti-money laundering initiatives may subsequently be able to move into full time surveillance jobs checking daily trading reports for equities or fixed income traders. These can pay as much as 30,000 per annum.

Only one in five contractors manage to make the transition to full time compliance roles, however.