Short version: Coping with Compliance 2018

Executive summary

The European Commission’s response to the financial crisis of 2008 was to push out more than 40 new pieces of new legislation to reform the financial sector. This much needed reform was a major turn-around from the EU’s previous de-regulatory path, making the European financial services in to one of the union’s most regulated sectors. The purpose with the reforms was to prevent future crises through strengthened financial stability and to increase consumer protection. A decade later, much of the legislation has entered in to force and been implemented at national level.

The scope of this study is to map the effects of regulatory requirements on finance employees’ work and well-being, which in turn is linked to consumer outcomes in the form of service and protection. The study has been conducted as a survey. In total 215 shop stewards from the NFU member seven unions, covering all five Nordic countries, responded to the survey. 84% of the respondents represent members in the banking sector, and 10% are from the insurance sector. 5% represent members in currency exchange or both bank and insurance.

As regulation affects employees in many ways and areas, the scope of the study has been limited to the effects of requirements stemming from certain EU legislation: requirements on documentation, information to consumers, and Know Your Customer (KYC). These three aspects of regulatory requirements set out specific routines and tasks that finance employees working in sales and advice are required to follow and do in their daily work.