I am interested in pursuing a CRCM certification. I've visited the ABA and ICB websites for required qualification. Is there anyone who can suggest ways to acquire the necessary knowledge (a plan of some sort)? I'm a rookie compliance officer with 1 year experience and 14 years in commercial banking. Thanks!

Here's the path I took:

- Read lots of stuff.
- Prepare for, survive, and recover from a regulatory examination.
- Attend ABA's National Compliance School.
- Read lots of stuff.
- Attend state banking association compliance school.
- Attend ABA's Graduate Compliance School.
- Buy the ABA's Reference Guide to Regulatory Compliance. (It has sample test questions for every regulation. I took the sample test before I read any of the chapters, just for grins. Scored a 64%. Felt humble.)
- Read lots more stuff.

I took the 'real' test last month - still waiting for results.

My best recommendation - read everything you can get your hands on, use this forum and others to network, and keep asking questions. I had a boss once who challenged me in a review to 'ask 1000 questions'. Still good advice.

Good luck!

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Opinions stated are not legal advice, and are not necessarily the opinions of OAK Financial Corp.

KVerner, Bart said it all, "Read lots of stuff." In addition to the ABA Reference Guide to Regulatory Compliance, which has sample test questions to study, I found that Kirchman's Big Orange Book was a very good study reference. If your bank doesn't have a copy, you can find it at: www.kirchman.com
Also, there is no better teacher than actual experience. Unless the requirements have changed since I took the exam a couple of years ago, you will need a minimum of 3 years compliance experience . If you are in a small bank, you will probably gain compliance experience in all areas. But, if you work for a larger institution, like I did at the time, you may find yourself being a "specialist" in one area or another and you may not get exposed to others. Try to get as much experience as you can in all areas of bank compliance including lending, deposits, operations, CRA, HMDA, etc. The CRCM exam will cover all of those areas. So, read, work, study, take some classes. If you enjoy compliance and do your job well, you can conquer that CRCM exam. Good luck.

At first blush the only other thing I would add would be to try and establish a study group, face to face or Net based, and possibly a mentor through those they make available.

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Andy Zavoina
Opinions stated are not necessarily that of my employer.

Based on personal experience I think the study group idea is key (on top of your own reading, of course). Last year 7 people from my bank decided to go for the CRCM. We started a study group that met twice a week for an hour or so to go over every reg covered in the exam. Whoever was most qualified as "subject expert" presented the material. We all had the ABA "Reference Guide" to follow along. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it as all 7 of us passed on the first attempt.

Good luck to you.

The ABA published a brochure called "ABA Professional Development Track for Compliance Professionals" in 1999. If you can obtain a copy from ABA, it is a very good step by step guide for new Compliance Officers.

The ABA published a brochure called "ABA Professional Development Track for Compliance Professionals" in 1999. If you can obtain a copy from ABA, it is a very good step by step guide for new Compliance Officers.

I was all set to apply for the CRCM examination, but was told that they added a section on Securities because of the expanded powers under Gramm-Leach-Bliley.

Well, since I have very little experience in Securities, I'm not sure what all I need to study. Any advice on resources other than the ABA book?

(BTW - thank you again, GLB!)