London compliance pay: pretty good salaries, pretty weird bonuses
Working in compliance is usually considered quite a safe career for serious people – and while a bonus is rarely as guaranteed as one’s salary, it can at least be predictable. Apparently, not any more.
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A recent report by Woolf & Co., a London-based recruitment consultant specializing in compliance, indicated the scope of compliance bonus variability. While salaries for compliance professionals in London steadily increased since last year, bonuses have gone somewhat… Haywire.
Salaries for compliance professionals as a whole were broadly in line with last year’s numbers, based on our 2024 salary & bonus report. The main difference is that, after those with director rank, Woolf's report ended with global heads of compliance and chief compliance officers (CCO), while ours ended with managing directors (MDs) and equivalent.
CCOs, in Woolf's report, earned between £335k ($424k) and £1.1m ($1.4m) in total compensation; in our report, compliance MDs earned $575k (£453k) on average globally.
Last year's compliance bonuses seemed more influenced by individual circumstance than based on individual performance. “Some of the people that got better bonuses were in teams that were drastically reduced,” Woolf & Co. partner Marnie Woolf, who authored the report, said. "Or it's individuals that were more junior last year and are worth more to the team this year.” Promotion, that is.
However, some people in compliance barely got bonuses at all. For example: a professional who began a new role during the year, Woolf said, was expecting a bonus of at least 100% of their salary. Reality (or management, rather) intervened: they got 2% of their salary instead.
A few anomalies aside, 44% of compliance professionals Woolf interviewed said their bonuses were better than last year; 20% said they were worse. The remaining 36% said they were the same. Bonus opinions were as such, naturally, divided. "It's a really odd year with bonuses,” Woolf said. “Some people are pleased to have anything at all."
The real freight train awaiting the compliance profession, however, might be related to office days. Most respondents analysed in the report were in the office three days a week, an arrangement they were generally happy with and had been informed would not change. There might be other plans brewing, however. "People are not expecting their days in the office to increase,” Woolf said. “That's not what I'm hearing from heads of compliance."
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