Chief compliance officers · the role
What does a chief compliance officer do?
The short answer · updated
A chief compliance officer (CCO) is the executive who leads a company’s compliance function: making sure the business, its managers and its staff follow the laws, regulations and codes that apply to it. The chief compliance officer sets the compliance policies, monitors and tests them, reports breaches and risks to the board, and in a regulated firm answers personally to the regulator.
What is a chief compliance officer?
A chief compliance officer is the head of compliance across a whole company or group.
Below the role there are usually compliance officers, compliance managers and specialists in areas such as financial crime, data protection or conduct; the chief compliance officer owns the function and its plan, and reports to the chief executive or the board.
The seat is most common in regulated sectors: banking, insurance, investment, payments, healthcare, pharmaceuticals and energy.
Outside them, the same work often sits with the general counsel or a head of risk and compliance.
Watch the abbreviation.
CCO also stands for chief commercial officer and chief customer officer.
See what a chief commercial officer does and what a chief customer officer does.
What a chief compliance officer is responsible for
In an FCA-authorised firm the core of the job is set by the rules.
Under SYSC 6.1, a firm must establish, implement and maintain adequate policies and procedures to make sure it, its managers and its staff comply with the regulatory system, and to counter the risk that it is used for financial crime.
The chief compliance officer is the person who makes that happen.
In practice:
- The compliance framework. Policies, procedures and the controls that put them into effect.
- Regulatory change. Tracking new rules and turning them into changes the business makes on time.
- Monitoring and testing. A compliance monitoring plan that checks the controls work, not only that they exist.
- Advice. Telling the business what a rule means for a new product, market or decision.
- Financial crime. Anti-money laundering, sanctions, bribery and fraud prevention, often with a separate money laundering reporting officer.
- Training and culture. Making sure staff know the rules that apply to their jobs.
- Reporting. Regular reports to the board or its risk and audit committees, and dealings with the regulator.
The rules a chief compliance officer answers for
In a financial services firm the role is often a regulated one.
The FCA’s senior management functions include compliance oversight and the money laundering reporting officer.
Anyone performing one needs the regulator’s approval before starting, and can be held accountable for a breach in their area if they did not take reasonable steps to prevent it.
Corporate criminal law reaches beyond financial services.
Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, a large organisation can be liable for failure to prevent fraud by an employee or other associated person for its benefit, unless it had reasonable fraud prevention procedures; the offence has been in force since 1 September 2025.
The Bribery Act 2010 guidance sets out the procedures a company can put in place to prevent bribery.
Designing and testing those procedures usually falls to the chief compliance officer.
Chief compliance officer vs compliance officer vs chief risk officer vs general counsel
A compliance officer runs part of the function or the whole of it in a smaller firm; see what a compliance officer does.
A chief compliance officer owns the function across the company and sits at or near the executive committee.
A chief risk officer owns the risk framework across all risks, of which compliance risk is one; see what a chief risk officer does.
A general counsel leads the legal function: contracts, disputes and legal advice; see what a general counsel does.
In smaller firms one person may cover two of these seats.
Fractional, interim and permanent chief compliance officers
A permanent chief compliance officer suits a firm whose regulatory exposure is large and constant.
An interim chief compliance officer covers a fixed period: a remediation programme, an authorisation, a regulator’s review, or a gap between appointments.
A part-time or fractional chief compliance officer suits a smaller authorised firm that needs senior compliance leadership for part of the week.
See part-time chief compliance officer jobs.
Where the role is a senior management function, the regulator’s approval is needed whatever the contract, so build the approval into the timetable.
A fractional or interim chief compliance officer working through their own company may fall within the off-payroll working rules (IR35).
Status turns on how the engagement runs in practice, and a medium or large client makes the determination.
Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
Pay is set out, with sources, on our compliance officer salary page.
How to hire a chief compliance officer
Start with the rules that apply to the firm and whether the role will hold a senior management function.
Then write down what the chief compliance officer will own, who they report to, and their access to the board and its committees.
Test candidates on your own regulatory issues and on a breach they found and fixed.
Qualifications from the International Compliance Association are common in the field, though no qualification is required by law.
We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives, and non-executive directors.
For a compliance brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after our five-stage vetting.
To hire a chief compliance officer for part of the week, start with our part-time chief compliance officer page.
Questions people ask
What does a chief compliance officer do?
Leads the compliance function: sets the policies and controls that keep the company within the law and its regulators’ rules, monitors and tests them, and reports breaches and risks to the board.
Is a chief compliance officer a CCO?
Yes, but CCO also stands for chief commercial officer and chief customer officer, so read the job title in full before comparing roles or pay.
Does a chief compliance officer need FCA approval?
In an FCA-authorised firm, if the role performs a senior management function such as compliance oversight, yes: the FCA must approve the person before they start.
What is the difference between a chief compliance officer and a chief risk officer?
A chief compliance officer makes sure the firm follows the rules; a chief risk officer owns the framework for every risk the firm takes, of which compliance risk is one.
Can a chief compliance officer work part-time?
Yes, in a smaller firm.
See part-time chief compliance officer jobs.
Where the role is a regulated function, the approval applies whatever the hours.
How do I hire a chief compliance officer?
List the rules that apply, decide whether the role is a regulated function, set the reporting line and board access, and test candidates on your own issues.
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
