Can anyone tell me if there are any education requirements for a new Compliance officer?

When I joined as the compliance officer I came in as a previous internal auditor with a BBA in accounting. Other than that I did not have any previous compliance experience. I would highly recommend that you subscribe to compliance alert magazine as well as take professional bankers services courses in compliance. Bankers Online provides a great list of compliance courses and schools. If you need more info email me at mceruzzi@soundfed.com. I will be glad to assist you in this area.

Good luck to you!

Unless it is state mandated, there are no requirements that need to be met to become a compliance officer. Your examiners may or may not be comfortable with a COs skill level and could make recommendations based on that, to management. Achieving a certain skill level is in the best interest of the bank and the CO. This would be particularly true in an area such as BSA which is and will continue to be a hot topic. The ABA also has a certification that requires experience and education. It is actually through the ICB and is the Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM) designation. You my have read about it here.

Many COs are self taught. Luckily we have sites like BOL that allow easy networking which augments this.