Friday, November 30, 2018

Buy side / Sell side compliance 2019 前景展望

有讀者問到buy side 和 sell side compliance 在2019的前景展望，今次跟大家講一下我的看法。
這幾年合規部門沒有停下來的時候- 本地則有SFC每年陸續有來的consultation paper和落實要執行的新例（例如關於Open ended fund 和unit trust and mutual fund的新例）。而重頭戲是來自外國的國際法規。剛剛才被FATCA和Volcker 這兩兄弟搞得團團轉（如果有讀者不明白什麼叫FATCA和Volcker的話，我也可以另外一篇說明），最近要搞的是GDPR和MIFID II。

GDPR 全寫是General data protection regulation。GDPR來自歐盟，監管歐盟國家的國民個人資料，也適用於這些資料如果傳送到歐盟以外的地區。大家見到很多網頁現在也有關於資料應用/cookies 的pop up 聲明，便是因為這條法規。因為互聯網上任何網頁都有可能被歐洲人瀏覽，而絕大多數網頁都會有收集訪客瀏覽相關資訊的cookies，所以理論上無論你是美國公司、香港公司還是厄瓜多爾公司，只要有公司網頁，便要遵守這個法規。

因為法例監管的是個人資料，主要受影響的是buy side fund managers （因為有retail investor) 和Sell side 的 private banking。那麼除了以上，其他的投行業務，因為只有institutional client，是否就可以免疫呢？並非如此。現在的金融機構要為每一個客戶，包括公司客戶進行KYC, 索取公司的背景資料，其中包括董事directors 和授權人士authorised signatories 的資料。無論你是哪兒有業務，你的客戶主要在哪個地區，客戶的董事或授權人士中有歐洲人是極常發生的事。所以還是逃不過。


那麼實際上要遵守什麼規定呢？正常的金融機構都不會亂把客戶資料拿去貼街招，GDPR中最令人頭痛的是要求資料蒐集者和個人間有合約條文，確保資料被收集的對象明白資料蒐集用途、雙方的責任和權利等等。於是金融機構便要重新審視現在跟客戶之間的合約是否需要加入GDPR條文。須知institutional之間要更改或重新簽定合約要經無數次back-and-forth律師團隊們的爭辯，甚至有客戶拒絕簽新合約等等的麻煩。

到MIFID II, 之前有關research部門前景一文提到這項法規要求基金支付的research cost 和trading commissions要分清明細。其實MIFID II更宏觀的願望是基金投資者透過更高透明度的基金資料披露，包括各種基金支出的分析，更容易比較及明智地選擇基金投資，亦迫使基金經理去減低基金支出。

MIFID II亦強調Best execution。基金常常買進賣出不同投資產品，基金經理可以選擇不同的證券商或交易場所去進行交易。Best execution的意思是基金經理要就這些不同的證券商和交易場所的佣金和最後成交價等因素進行分析，並選擇對基金投資者最有利的交易方法。

講完最近最火紅的兩項法規，綜合一下。
大家可能會留意到之前的巨額罰款，多是針對sell side的例如洗黑錢、操縱利率、rouge trading活動。可是近來的法規進化到主要希望保護散戶投資者的權益，所以對Buy side 的 fund managers的影響也會越來越大。

綜合來說各式各樣的國際和本地法規未來幾年也沒有減退的跡象，regulatory compliance的前景仍然是不錯的。

延伸閱讀:
英文履歷CV修改服務
KYC / CDD和AML Compliance的分別
合規部(Compliance)與監管機構的探戈
Compliance manager 一天的工作內容
Compliance 行業前景 - 還應否入行？

想看更多? - Like 大投行小人物 Facebook專頁
Posted by at
Labels: ,

14 comments:

  1. CCNovember 30, 2018 at 6:08 AM

    Thank you for your considering my comment and post this valuable article :)

    Support as always ��

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 3, 2019 at 6:59 PM

    Thank you for this article. Would you mind talking about FATCA and Volcker too? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 大投行 小人物January 4, 2019 at 3:53 PM

      Thank you for your support of my blog! Do you mean you want to understand more about the nature of FATCA and Volcker regulations?

      Delete
    2. AnonymousJanuary 5, 2019 at 10:16 PM

      Yes, it would be great if you could tell us more about FATCA and Volcker. Your blog is so insightful and fun to read! Thanks!

      Delete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 11, 2019 at 3:38 AM

    What do you think about the compliance role in Chinese investment bank? e.g. CICC, ICBCi.....

    thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 大投行 小人物February 21, 2019 at 2:35 AM

      Hi there! In terms of career prospect they are similar to any other second / third tier ibanks. You should consider the working culture and whether you will be a good fit.

      Suggest to reference the below post:
      https://ibankops.blogspot.com/2017/06/culture2.html

      Delete
  4. JackyMarch 20, 2019 at 8:31 PM

    Hi, do you know about the prospects of compliance role in insurance companies in HK?

    And how do you rank the working environment, opportunities and rewards for working in bank vs insurance vs fund house vs ibank?

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 大投行 小人物March 22, 2019 at 4:39 PM

      Hi Jacky! Thank you for your comment.
      I'm afraid I am not familiar with compliance in insurance as the regulations and requirements are completely different there.
      As for comparison among different financial firm types, it is not very meaningful to generalise. For instance I believe the difference between a US bank and a Chinese bank would be bigger than that between a US bank and a US insurance firm.

      Delete
    2. JackyMarch 24, 2019 at 2:57 AM

      Thanks for your reply. I am just thinking if it is good move to accept an offer of compliance role from a large (non Chinese) insurance company in HK.

      Personally I do not think I would like the culture of the Mainlander, I think I could adapt the culture of MNC more (but PRC companies could pay, so it is a dilemma for me in long term).

      Delete
    3. 大投行 小人物March 25, 2019 at 4:57 AM

      With regards to the culture in a Chinese firm, you can refer to the below blog post. Hope this helps. The Chinese firms are not paying outrageous bonuses these days anymore so...
      https://ibankops.blogspot.com/2017/06/culture2.html

      Delete
  5. AlexMarch 24, 2019 at 9:04 PM

    Hi, I'm quite junior in the compliance field and I currently have both buy-side (PE/credit fund) and sell-side opportunities (HK branch of one of the biggest Chinese securities firm). Which one would you recommend, and, in terms of buy-side v.s. sell side, which one do you think offers a better prospect going forward?

    Thanks a lot!

    ReplyDelete
  6. 大投行 小人物March 25, 2019 at 5:01 AM

    Hi Alex, thank you for your comment.
    Very generally speaking sell side can offer a more generous package than buy side while at a very high level they do somewhat similar analysis work. Sell side face pressure from clients / sales quota while buy side also need to meet return targets and I would expect compliance supporting these roles would share to a lesser extent these straits too.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousApril 26, 2020 at 9:17 PM

    Hi, I'm happy to have found your blog and found what you wrote to be quite accurate and insightful. I have sell side compliance experience from 2 large BB but i have taken some time off from work. I recently received an offer from buy side compliance but at a paycut, is this reasonable for someone switching from sell to buy side comp? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 大投行 小人物May 4, 2020 at 7:14 AM

      Hi, glad to know that you find my blog useful!
      I do not believe buy side compliance pays significantly lower than sell side, especially you are not front office / sales. Possibly because they do not consider your experience as fully relevant or it is also possible that they are taking advantage of the fact that you have taken time off and currently not with another firm. Either way you may bargain but at the end you have to decide if you accept the new pay level.

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)