In 2014, the Wall Street Journal said that a compliance officer is one the hottest jobs in America, but there are many challenges that come with this role. If you’re a compliance officer, you know that you live in a fast-paced world where the margin for error is small and the pressure to perform is high.
Being former bankers ourselves, we understand those challenges and we’ve put together a list of some common pain-points for compliance officers and how to overcome them.
Pain-point #1: It takes more people and time to do less work.
According to the American Bankers Association, in 2009 a Texas community bank created 1,296 mortgage loans with a total mortgage staff of 18. In comparison, the same bank in 2012 originated 1,080 mortgages with a mortgage staff of 25 due to an increase in compliance regulations. In some cases, banks are not adding staff to meet their compliance needs; they are just asking compliance officers to do more work with fewer “people” resources.
Solution
Leverage compliance technology solutions – like ABS’ CompliancePro® — so your people can actually do more in less time. While there is a cost to adopt technology solutions, the right solutions can produce a demonstrable ROI – simply multiply the time saved throughout the year by your hourly personnel cost and compare the result with the cost of the technology. It might surprise you to see that the personnel costs saved far exceed the cost of the technology.
Pain-point #2: The cost associated repeat failures.
A presentation archived on The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s website states the obvious: “Given complexity of the regulatory environment…banks may not get everything right first time.” Examiners have strong reactions to repeat failures. It is critical, therefore, to track compliance issues and the bank’s corrective action.
Solution
Again, leverage technology to systematically track issues and corrective action. Ideally, the technology should seamlessly link the bank’s issue and corrective action tracking to its regular schedule of compliance monitoring, as well as the bank’s ongoing assessment of compliance risk in the affected areas.
Pain-point #3: The countless hours you spend to keep up with regulations
Some studies have shown that banks spend one-third of their time keeping up with compliance & regulations.
Solution
Invest in better technology solutions – ones that provide you the regulatory content and updates you need. Adopting a proper compliance culture management will also save you valuable time. Read about how to create an effective compliance program.
If you are new to the compliance field or want some more bank expert’s opinions on how to be more efficient in your job read this guide on compliance and the compliance in banks.
