Let’s talk more about how FinTech Compliance (or Risk or Internal Control or Audit) professionals can make more money and why so many of them are not able to utilize these opportunities.

So, how Compliance & Co Experts can make more money, and what stays in their way?

1) Get a new job

This is by far the most common strategy, but it’s not without complications, because:

• You get a one-time increase and then your compensation is growing very slowly.
• It may not be ideal to change jobs and be on the probation period in the middle of economic uncertainties.
• Compliance people often prefer certainty and stability and tend to be risk-averse, so changing companies and creating a resume of a job-hopper is not something that they would do just for fun. There is always a hope that the next job will last (but then see the first bullet point about stagnating salaries).
• Changing jobs is not a sustainable solution unless you can completely re-define the role of compliance in the organization and increase its actual and perceived value of what you do. Which is why changing jobs rarely brings lasting results.

2) Become a Board Member for another FinTech company.

Objections many people have about it:

• It’s hard to find credible startups.
• It is only possible for people with connections and through introductions.
• It’s too much of a liability. 
• What happens to my reputation if they go out of business?

Despite all hesitations above, becoming a Board Member is a “dream-come-true” option for many, because a board seat is seen as a respectable position with lots of credibility and influence, usually “safe” from the conflicts of interests, so it’s relatively easy to get your employer’s approval for that.

The problem is that FinTech startups usually don’t want to add random compliance officers to their Boards. They want their Board Members to bring in investments, influence, connections, partnership, and growth opportunities, and compliance officers are not perceived as capable of doing that. I am often asked by my clients to recommend board members, and the list of “job specs” rarely includes understanding regulations or risks. The days when Board Members enjoyed nice income and had little responsibilities are slowly but surely going away, because FinTechs are under more and more pressure to grow and become profitable. If your skillset is not viewed as “growth-focused” and if you don’t have a track record of enabling business expansion and bringing in revenues or partnerships, most founders won’t be impressed.

 3) Become a paid advisor with an equity stake or a co-founder for a new startup and help them grow

• This option is a bit riskier and less certain than a Board seat (from the revenue-generating perspective) because most compliance officers are not M&A experts and don’t know how to evaluate the commercial opportunity of a startup and their chances of becoming successful.
• Another huge objection I hear often about this option is TIME. Yes, growing a new company is demanding and time-consuming, but compliance officers rarely feel they have the time. You may dream that maybe one day you will have more time to start something more entrepreneurial, but probably not today.
• The sad thing about it is that I’m yet to meet a compliance officer who would tell me they had plenty of free time. More likely than not, they are overwhelmed with requests, have a long backlog of things to attend and it just never ends. Why? Because most people don’t know how to ask for resources and even when you get the resources, new team members, or new tools, you don’t always use them wisely.

In all cases above, we see a common underlying issue – to earn more money and get exposure to more opportunities, it is imperative that compliance officers are able to demonstrate that they are able to generate commercial benefits and tangible results for their current company, be able to clearly communicate and quantify what these results are, and use resources and time available to them wisely.

If you find that this message resonates with your own experience and you feel that you would like to combine regulatory knowledge with commercial analysis and resource management angle to your skillset, then the Compliance That Makes Sense Helpline is the right fit for you. Why?

If you work in compliance, you may be thinking that you don’t need help – you just need more resources and time to do what you need to do. I’m not saying that you need help with reading laws and regulations. You probably don’t! But look around – have you noticed that many of your bosses and expensive consultants and executives know less than you do about compliance, but have much more say and influence?

To be successful at delivering on compliance projects you need more than just technical compliance expertise – you need to learn and master know-how that you cannot find in compliance policies, such as how to estimate and articulate your function’s value, learn where and how to rely on technology, and change the way you communicate and ask for resources.

If you are the CEO or a founder, you want your compliance to be agile and flexible and you want to manage it similar to how you build your other Tech products. You want to spend time and money on the things that you need “just in time”, in small increments, as opposed to trying to get 100% compliant with everything at the same time “just in case” or “so that you don’t go to jail”.

Compliance That Makes Sense Helpline grants you access to feedback or advice when you need it most – meaning you or your team can talk to me about your “situation” and brainstorm your options and strategies for getting unstuck. I have helped dozens of FinTech startup founders and compliance officers as their CCO, advisor, Board Member, and co-founder to get where they wanted to be, which is why I’m confident I help you too.

Click here to learn more about Compliance That Makes Sense Helpline and reach out if you’d like to talk more about how it can be of service to you and reach out if you have questions!