Hi, I am in NYC and worked at an international bank in compliance department for past 2 years (right after graduating with my BBA in Finance) My work concentrated mostly on OFAC side and I have decent amout of investigating BSA alert cases. I've been laid off recently because this institution mgmt wanted to hire their own relatives and pushed me out of my position (not worth a fight-over, better move forward)
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I have tried searching for compliance jobs in NYC at vaarious job boards and didnot find much luck. Is the compliance job market dry? or am i not looking at right places. If you have any advice, I'll appreciate thanks.

Try bank websites. Also, many NYC jobs regardless of level are listed with headhunters. There are some that specialize in BSA.

You and also click on Career Connect at the top of the page.

Also try Linked In - there are some compliance job groups there and I know I saw a NYC area job advertised just last week.

ICBA has a Career Center for community banks you might want to check as well:

http://careers.icba.org/

thx a lot guys. Yes i notice most of the compliance positions are advertised by staffing agencies (has anyone had any experience to share going through staffing agencies) At bank websites, I noticed most positions are seeking heavy experienced individuals (ie: 5-7 yrs experience) I only have 2, is it ok for me to apply anyway, knowing that I have worked on majority of functions they are seeking in a senior individual.

Can anyone verify what each function of Compliance is like at thier institution. At our institution all work seemed too easy to fulfill. We were int'l bank specialized in global payments transactions and trade finance.

For (CIP) we ensured all documents/questionaires are on file from a checklist. If not, contact customers and request IDs' if expired run worldcheck,ofac check and in file it goes.
(AML Alerts) - transaction monitoring, vendor software did most of raising alerts based on a series of alert rules. We would research under customers that had increase transaction activity and looked for "un-known" entities the customer transacted with -run worldcheck,ofac check, nothing negative, then let it go OR if amounts of transactions big, We'd ask branch to confirm activities of their customer if they are NORMAL in particular transactions. If normal close file, case over... move to next.

OFAC alerts, again generated by vendor software picking up names that are close sounding SDN entities(surprinsingly saddam is still on list) wrote two liner why an alert is false positive in the notes box, waived moved to next. If REALLY close match(hold transaction) contact bank ask for DOB/Nationality/PP#. upon confirming details, if mismatch then waive Or in the cases of OFAC country involved in payments, contacting OFAC seeking advisement via FAX, because phone is always BUSY/OFF. They callback inform me what actions to take. File CTR/ or Block report. Done save it fine..next..

Filing SARS report, yes that I didn't take care of someone else did, which i regret because filing SARS experience is QUITE in demand in job posts i came across. From description of how to file it. It's not too complicated.

KYC, ask ur branch what its customer business or source of income and level of satisfaction with the customer? CADD, do your own research using web/databases and write a small analysis. EDD, another word for taking extra precaution or ask more information (another layer of info) from a branch & take their word for it.

What else is there? please note above functions did involved knowing of regulations and using logic, out-of-box thinking to see if any activities of the customer didnot make sense. I am just describing a quick run-down on how we viewed these "Big bold terms" that are in demand being, KYC,CADD/CIP/BSA/AML/OFAC.

I guess our bank had it easy as we dealt mainly in global transactions. It is my view that, other banks have it more complex with various types of new financial products/services which crimnals can misuse to launder money. ie: gift value cards or some financial security.

Pls feel free to share how complex or simple it is at your institution. You are under no obligation to share your function, it is voluntary information that may open or help someone prepare for what's ahead in the field of compliance in financial industry.

thank you all.

international bank in compliance department for past 2 years (right after graduating with my BBA in Finance) My work concentrated mostly on OFAC side and I have decent amout of investigating BSA alert cases.

No offense but your experience in "compliance" sounds pretty limited to aml/bsa. Most compliance positions will require experience with a wide variety of regulations. A very good way to get the type of experience you need is to start as an examiner. You might try the various government agencies, they all have NY offices.

Also, I used a recruiter to get my current job. It was a good experience, and I wouldn't have my current manager position without the help of the recruiter. It can hurt the amount the bank is willing to offer as they have to pay big bucks to the recruiter but if its a choice between taking a few bucks less or not getting the job....