eFinancialCareers

Uncertainty about pay may have crept into other areas of the market, but when it comes to MiFID, it's like Christmas every day.

Research by Joslin Rowe Temporaries has found that, as banks scramble to meet the November deadline for Europe's new compliance regime, senior monitoring, AML and Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) compliance contractors are enjoying way above average increases.

Whereas a year ago a senior monitoring professional with two to three years' experience might have been taking home around £25 an hour, now it is more like £35 an hour or higher, a leap of some 40%.

It's a similar story for AML candidates and those with MiFID project experience. From £23 to £27 an hour being usual in the spring, £35+ an hour is now the norm.

Specialists with client classification skills and experience of remediation projects are particularly in demand, says Joslin Rowe's Michelle Myers.

But such financial largesse may not last, she warns. "Anyone moving now will benefit from a very hot market, but I don't see this lasting to the end of the year. Rates will probably level out as the candidate shortage eases and the MiFID deadline is met," she says.

Client classification, best execution and trade transparency are red-hot skills to have at the moment, agrees Chris Hickey of recruiter Robert Walters: "At the really senior end things have gone even higher, with rises of 50% or even 60%," he says.

Unlike Myers, he argues that the experience of contractors in the wake of the last major compliance overhaul – the 2001 N2 reforms – gives some ground for optimism.

"Many of them were kept on once it came in and I think MiFID will be the same for at least the first six months. The banks will want to make sure it is running smoothly," he adds.