As we sit back and watch the world unfold in front of us on a daily basis, we have the ability to witness technological advances in everything from medicine to space travel. We’ve seen governments change and individuals come and go.  But the one thing that has remained constant is time.  Since the beginning, it appears that there is never enough time in the day for us to accomplish everything we want to accomplish.  This is true when it comes to managing the compliance function within a financial institution.  Size is not a deterrent to getting everything you want accomplished daily.  One difficulty in succeeding in our daily compliance struggles is potentially not having appropriate staffing.  This is where outsourcing some of the compliance activities becomes a viable option.  What reasons would you have for hiring a Compliance Consultant?  Here are five reasons why.

1.  Cost

The alternative to hiring a compliance consultant would perhaps be hiring a new compliance employee.  This would lead to additional long-term costs for the institution.  Compliance consultants generally work on a temporary contractual basis, thus eliminating the human resources cost of hiring a full-time employee.  If you are looking to complete some one-off projects, hiring a new employee would not be financially prudent.

2. Industry Experience

Most individuals who act as compliance consultants have a background rooted in both the regulatory compliance examination field and retail banking.  A compliance consultant has experience and knowledge not only about the compliance issues you are facing, but also how other financial institutions handled the situation and the positive or negative outcomes of their actions.

3. Unbiased Opinion

Hiring a compliance consultant will provide your business with a different, outside perspective.  Sometimes it is hard to see what changes may be needed from the inside and making important decisions when you’re wrapped up in the day to day running of the compliance function. A compliance consultant will be objective and won’t be emotionally attached, meaning that they’ll be able to give you unbiased advice.

4. They Can Enhance Your Compliance Strategy

Compliance consultants can help you develop a compliance strategy for your institution. This compliance strategy can be built on analyzing your lending patterns, determining the validity of your Assessment Area and determining your market penetration, and where your emphasis going forward should be.   Compliance consultant can help you build a more robust strategy with long-term goals and objectives.

5. They Are Excellent Employee Prospects

Hiring a compliance consultant could be an excellent way to determine if that consultant may be a good fit for your institution down the road.  Barring the contractual requirements that are often found within consulting agreements, sometimes, if the compliance consultant is an independent consultant, it would be a good plan to hire the consultant if she or he has been working with you for some time and has developed an in-depth knowledge of your compliance risk function.