A rare opportunity to make the step up to the senior ranks in this hot sector

Compliance is a hot sector to work in, with jobs emerging in prolific numbers in retail and investment banking alike. However, despite simmering temperatures in the junior and mid-level job market, opportunities to head up the function are all too rare.

There appears to be one such job at HSBC, however. As of 21 August, Alan Ramsay, who was head of compliance for Europe at HSBC and who had global oversight for compliance within the global banking and markets division, retired.

Ruth Horgan, global head of compliance, along with domestic compliance team heads are currently managing the European functions, according to an HSBC spokesperson.

“There’s a shortage of compliance talent, but there’s still a wealth of people in the mid-to-senior level positions looking to move to a meatier head of department role,” said Edward Manson, director of compliance-focused recruiters Merje. “It’s rare that people in these roles move on of their own accord, so generally you have to wait for someone to retire before an opportunity arises.”

Ramsay had been with HSBC since 1999, when he joined from Bankers Trust in London, where he was director of compliance. The takeover of Bankers Trust by Deutsche Bank prompted Ramsay to make the move into the newly-created position at HSBC, which was bolstering compliance functions related to its investment bank at the time.

A global head of compliance position typically pays £150-300k, according to the Robert Walters 2013 salary survey, whereas a head of compliance for a particular region receives £125-250k, it suggests.