The collapse in compliance: What a difference a year makes in a sector that was once so strong

Compliance recruitment into banks is down by at least 70 per cent compared with a year ago, according to Jacob Smith, director, JS Careers. "There are significant hiring freezes across many organisations in the market, which is a major difference to the buoyancy we saw in 2010."

And he's not the only one who thinks compliance is slumping. "Last year was about embedding new compliance frameworks and initiatives, which saw strong demand for new staff. This year has seen these frameworks delivered, so organisations are looking to hire predominantly for replacement rather than growth," says Desiree Hemberger, risk and compliance consultant, Morgan McKinley.

Another recruiter, who asked not to be named, says most Australian banks are not only freezing recruitment, they are also making redundancies.

Hemberger adds: "2011 has seen a number of the domestic banks undergo cost-cutting initiatives, mergers and restructures, which has also seen compliance headcount impacted in many cases."

Uncertainty around global economic conditions means both international and domestic firms are falling under tighter headcount scrutiny. "The result has been a reluctance to grow teams and replace headcount until some greater stability is seen in the markets. Many companies are compromising by hiring professionals on a contract rather than permanent basis," says Hemberger.

Any hiring hope?

Smith says consultancies are still recruiting strongly in compliance and risk. "This demonstrates that there must still be opportunities for the accounting firms and independent consultancies to provide services to clients. I think this is always a barometer of the volume of employment opportunities for compliance staff moving into full-time positions."

Hemberger has recently noticed newly-recruited senior compliance professionals restructuring their teams by adding talent through their own networks, including sourcing high-performers from teams they have previously managed.