Definitely not easy, but so worth the effort. I've always thought of it as a maturation process for me. Or maybe it was a test. I don't know. I'm just glad, especially in light of my workload and deadlines so far this year, that I can leave it here and still sleep at night.

At least you are concerned with compliance at your bank. The compliance officer at my bank doesn't do much, if any, training or work for that matter. A "Compliance Committee" has been formed recently (which I am now part of) to basically have one person per department teaching all other departments compliance issues within the bank. The problem with that is, most of us don't know all compliance issues within our department so how are we supposed to teach someone else!

Look it as an opportunity. If you see deficiencies that you believe you can assist with, study the reg/rule and work with the compliance office or committee in teaching others, streamlining/updating forms, whatever. It sounds as if you may have a heart for compliance and you could make your own career path over time.

Remember...you never know who's watching you.

After many years as the compliance officer at a mid sized bank, finally management has included a section for compliance performance in the officers' reviews, including bonuses.

I envy you!!!!!

YankeeFan: Has your bank been in trouble for compliance? You might want to check into your banks last compliance exam and see how your bank did. I see you are newly registered so are you new to banking as well? At my bank the compliance officer is the “leader” as far as compliance goes, but it is up to each department to know the compliance for their specific areas. We don’t train each individual in every department about the regulations, it is something that the compliance officer knows and shares the knowledge with the heads of each department/area who then should be sharing with each individual as it pertains to their specific job. All of our employees have mandatory training that they have to complete every year on certain regulations that pertain to their particular area – I would hope your bank does that as well. Also our loan officers attend outside seminars that pertain to their specific job as does the deposit side. Are you a loan officer or a new account representative?

Unless your bank only has a handful of employees it would be impossible for every employee to know each regulation. Most banks have compliance committees and being part of the committee is a great way to get involved and to learn more about your specific job. It sounds like you don’t want to do that. In our compliance committee we each read up on certain regulations and then we can discuss changes in the regulatory world as they are happening and work as a team to come up with a workable plan for our bank.

As BrendaC pointed out you should definitely look at this as a GREAT opportunity to learn something new in your position. It could also mean great advancement for you in the future! And being a compliance officer myself, I wouldn’t say that they don’t do much, do you know what kind of changes are happening in the compliance world today – the changes have been huge and if your bank is anything like ours, it has been a nightmare recently trying to keep up with all the changes. Until you have walked in a compliance officer’s shoes, I wouldn’t being saying they are doing nothing.

I think that is exemplary and I did mention it to our Audit Committee when I was asked what I would like to see in the future.

Lucky you. I am so sick of repeat technical vios because no one is held accountable! We can train until we are blue in the face, but until it hits their wallets, they just won't get it.

Well, here at my humble abode, I want to do the very best job I can to protect my bank. When my passion doesn't match senior management's, it can't help but be frustrating.

Some can leave it at work, some can't-we all should try.

Yankee Fan: I am also a member of a newly formed compliance committee, and although it has been challenging to learn about the regs, I don't see it as a bad thing or as something that shouldn't be part of my job. No matter what department you are in, there are regulations, why not take ownership of this and use your role on the compliance committe to your advantage? You said you don't know the compliance issues of the bank or your department, not knowing could put you at risk for violating regs. If you are in the mtg dept there are plenty of new reg changes affecting you.

You said your compliance officer "doesn't do anything", this seems hard to believe, a lot of his/her work is behind the scenes and is not something you see the effect it has on your department daily. I would be careful about judging others quality of work until you know their workload.

Although much of the work we compliance officers do is 'behind the scenes' (monitoring, developing policies and procedures, etc.), we do need to have sufficient 'face time' with our colleagues, otherwise our work may not have much value.

We have a compliance committee, of which I am the chair. We try to meet on a monthly basis (but quarterly at a minimum). At those meetings we discuss changes to any regulations that have impact on us and what we need to do about it (e.g., changes to policies/procedures, training, etc.) and agree on roles and responsibilities. We also discuss the results of any monitoring and what actions need to be taken (e.g., great job-keep doing what you're doing or here are some areas that need improvement). The auditor also sits on the committee and discusses any outstanding compliance audit issues that have not been addressed.

In addition, (luckily) I'm viewed as a resource by my colleagues for any questions they have about the regs (which is why I LOVE this forum).

In short, if some staff feel that the compliance officer is not doing anything, then perhaps it's time for him/her to get out among the staff. Just as some managers 'manage by walking around', compliance officers can also learn a lot just by walking around and asking questions of staff as to their needs to help them comply better.