Essential Strategies for Financial Services Compliance, 2nd Edition

Chapter 8Financial Products, Services and Documentation

8.1 Products and Services

It is difficult to be successful as a Compliance Officer unless you understand the full range of products and services offered by your firm. If you do not understand this basic element of your working environment you are liable to give wrong or inappropriate advice, potentially getting yourself, your firm and your colleagues into trouble. It also lays you wide open to being hoodwinked: if you are trying to tackle a Compliance query that has come your way and a trader or fund manager is able to ‘blind you with science’ because you don't know your swaps from your collars, you may well find yourself being ‘engineered’ into giving a ‘Yes’ when your response should really be a ‘No, not in any circumstances’.

And just as important are the matters of credibility and goodwill. Your Front Office colleagues want to feel that they are dealing with someone who knows what they are talking about, and specifically, someone who knows the firm's business. You will get a lot more ‘business buy-in’ if you are capable of having a sensible conversation about the key products relevant to the departments for which you are responsible. Think about it – if, for example, someone asks you about the regulatory implications of a credit default swap that they are working on and you have no idea what that is, then you are going to lose credibility (and waste time) if this has to be explained to you before you can give your ...