By Arthur DE BOUTINY, journalist, Les Echos Business
The compliance officer, often a lawyer specialising in business, deals as much with internal ethics as with risk-taking. After banking, this profession is now of interest to all business sectors.
The profession runs its course 1mis still relatively unknown in France. The compliance officer is firstly, banks and asset management companies.. The latter is gaining ground with industrial and service groups. "Compliance officers"... The term does not appeal to legal experts in the French language. But the terms compliance officer or ethics officer are not synonymous. " The Compliance department has a long history in the banking industry and is the result of banking regulations", explains Catherine Delhaye. She is co-founder and General Secretary of the Cercle de la Compliance and Director of Ethics and Compliance at Valeo. " The compliance officer deals with ethical dilemmas. Compliance does too, and goes further. "
Compliance teams wear many hats. They are managers compliance and internal control. They are also financial and legal risk assessors, guarantors of ethical codes and experts in international regulations. Finally, they are responsible for fighting corruption, money laundering and unfair competition...". The compliance officer is both advisor and controller, without being a censor", says Blandine Cordier-Palasse. She is a managing partner of BCP Corp. Executive Search. In 2010, she co-founded the Cercle de la compliance to raise awareness of this function, which originated in the Anglo-Saxon world. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the UK Bribery Act of 2010 confirmed companies' fears about the risk of increasingly heavy penalties for fraud.
"French companies operating internationally may be subject to the very strict rules of the FCPA, the US law against bribery of foreign public officials, even though they do not have a presence in the United States", explains Catherine Delhaye. "Ignorance of these laws prevents them from putting in place the necessary measures to prevent any violation of the law. This can expose them to extremely serious legal risks. And the situation could get even worse if French law is applied.
Compliance officers in direct contact with the CEO
How do you become a compliance officer? " University courses in business ethics have appeared but are not compulsory: this profession requires professional experience that has raised awareness of management, risks and business", says Blandine Cordier-Palasse. " For this job, it is above all human qualities that are required", adds Catherine Delhaye: communication, leadership, empathy and teaching skills. The usual profile is that of a lawyer specialising in business, asset management and international regulations, with at least ten years' professional experience. Nadia Torte, a partner at the headhunting firm Singer & Hamihon, cites the case of a chartered accountant recruited because of his background in the Inspectorate General.
Recruiters now estimate the annual salary of a compliance officer at around 100,000 euros. But for Blandine Cordier-Palasse, salary is not the issue: what counts is the position in the hierarchy. " Legitimacy comes from reporting directly to the Chairman or Chief Executive, whether or not this is independent of the legal department. "She also believes that the compliance officer is part of a new corporate culture. " It helps to ensure that employees adhere to the value system decided by the company, and to reassure the company and the new generation of managers in the face of an increasingly complex system. "
