Where the City’s brightest thinkers get a few things off their chest. Today, Lucy McNulty, editor of Following the Rules, takes the Notebook pen.

The City needs to take better care of its compliance workers

The long-predicted City jobs shake-out is now in full swing and it seems like no one is safe.

Several of London’s banks have been reported to be cutting their compliance teams, pausing hiring in these departments or outsourcing what they can to cheaper locations. Recruitment firm Barclay Simpson saw vacancies for City compliance roles more than halve between early 2022 and late 2023. Of course, it was a tough end to 2023 and difficult times mean difficult decisions.

But compliance bosses in some pockets of the Square Mile fear the City could be going too far. One UK bank compliance chief tells me that job cuts, hiring freezes and outsourcing have hit junior and middle-ranking controls staff the hardest and created a concerning talent gap in the compliance functions at London’s banks.

Nick Evans of Barclay Simpson says that some banks are also “saving money by promoting cheaper, more junior talent to their senior ranks”. Worse still, headhunters fear a lack of investment in the department could prompt its most senior workers to quit, further exacerbating so-called........

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