What does Compliance do all day?

Just saw this post about GS automatically flagging their emails if they contain certain keywords and sending them to compliance for review: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/the-red-fl…

What does an analyst or associate in compliance actually do all day? Just going thru all the flagged emails and documents?

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The morning is spent reviewing hundreds and hundreds of flagged (and non-flagged) emails. 99.9% of the flagged ones are nothing to worry about, those that could be are resolved via email/phone call. Lots of those that do need a follow up are related to unapproved sales literature/advertising, which can also take a couple of hours per day. But before the sales lit can get approved, the client has to be onboarded so you dig through the information they have provided through the customer identification program, and jump through the FINRA anti-money laundering hoops to make sure it's okay to do business with them (OFAC, FinCen, background checks, due diligence, etc.) 

Those are the main three tasks compliance handles each day, the other ones pop up on a much more sporadic basis (some new hire items, updated the restricted/watch list, fixing any employee brokerage accounts that aren't syncing, etc.) Finally at midnight you post on wall street oasis instead of studying for another FINRA exam

 

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