Martin Currie’s fine highlights the need for Scottish financial services employers to invest in compliance staff

This week, Martin Currie was fined £3.5m by the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) for mismanaging a conflict of interest between two of its clients.

The issue took place five years’ ago, in 2007 when the clients concerned were both investing in China and being managed by staff in Martin Currie’s Shanghai office. The SEC claims that a fund manager from Martin Currie steered the company’s China Fund into investing in a subsidiary of a Chinese printer cartridge recycling business. The cartridge recycling business used the money it made to redeem bonds in a fund held by the same manager, which was in the midst of a liquidity crisis.

In doing so, Martin Currie fell foul of FSA requirements stating the primary responsibility for ensuring compliance with a firm’s regulatory obligations rests with the firm, and that senior management must ensure that there are adequate systems and controls in place to manage conflicts and to oversee the actions of employees.

Martin Currie doesn’t appear to be looking for any new compliance professionals as a result. Its current head of compliance, Brendan Bryce joined in 2009 – after the event, and was previously a director in risk-assurance services at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Careers in compliance can be well paid. The most recent salary survey from recruitment firm Robert Walters indicated that people with 4 to 6 years’ experience in asset management compliance should expect salaries between £55k and £100k.