Compliance Newsflashes: NASD Takes Compliance Back to School, and more

If you are the person responsible for your organization's regulatory compliance, you may want to consider revisiting your college entrance essay. NASD and The University of Reading are launching a first of its kind master's degree program in capital markets, regulation and compliance.

The new program addresses the growing international burden of federal mandates, including Sarbanes-Oxley, Reg NMS, Basel II, and MiFID. A direct result of these mandates is a growing demand for professionals with specialized experience in regulation and compliance.

Recruitment for these positions is at an all time high. The number of newly created compliance positions this year in the London market alone is expected to increase 30 percent over the number of positions created in 2004, according to recruitment firm Robert Walters.

In addition to the Master of Science degree, NASD and The University of Reading will also develop programs for a degree and an introductory certificate in capital markets, regulation and compliance.

Content for the new international qualifications will be developed with the input from some of the world's largest investment banks, including Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch and UBS. In this way, the industry's largest organizations can ensure the curriculum addresses the future compliance needs of the global regulatory environment, while lending merit to the qualifications offered by the new programs.

"The creation of this new set of professional qualifications, which will be recognized on an international level, will raise the profile of the compliance function even further and help create a respected career path for compliance professionals across the world. This can only serve to reinforce the integrity of global markets and increase investor confidence," said Robert Glauber, chairman and CEO of NASD, in a release.

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