A Formidable Showing Of Compliance Managers

ABA just held its 1998 National Conference for Compliance Management in San Diego. For people in the compliance profession, it was the place to be. Never before have so many people who knew so much about compliance been gathered into one place. Well, actually, more than one place. The conference filled the hotel and spilled over into other hotels.

In the beginning (1987) this was a conference that had few believers and most of the believers were compliance folks. But eleven years after the first conference, the showing in San Diego was awesome. The crowd was the biggest ever for a compliance gathering - more than 700 people. The really mind-numbing dimension is that all of the people at the conference were compliance professionals. Bank compliance managers, compliance consultants, and compliance exhibitors jammed the rooms and the hallways.

There was also a record-setting turn-out of regulators. All of the bank regulatory agencies were there in force. Examiners, District Directors, and Washington staff were there - not only as speakers - but as attendees. Even those whose regulators who were invited to speak at the conference extended their stay to attend some or all of the conference.

This conference is serious. Actually, it is almost like a school. The sessions begin at 8:00 (earlier on the opening day) and go until 5:00 or later. Only after the sessions is there an opportunity to network - but there are lots of opportunities as long as you aren't worn out after a long day in the sessions. And the conference notebook, together with information collected in the exhibit hall, is so enormous that most of us had to ship it back to the office.

So what does this say about bank compliance? To this editor, it says more than "we have arrived." All of those people made the decision to go - and for a reason. Most of us were after information. The annual conference is the best way to stay up to date on what has happened recently, what is about to happen, and who is involved. It is an opportunity to hear regulatory policy from the mouths of regulators; to get explanations about difficult technical problems from experts, and to test products and meet the people who developed them. Without this kind of opportunity, the compliance manager is handicapped. You need this information and exposure to be able to do the best job for your bank and for yourself. Bank management should understand that the compliance conference is not like other conferences. Start with the proposition that the attendees are there to learn. You can prove this simply by looking at the session rooms. Like good compliance professionals, most of the attendees attended all of the sessions. Tempting as San Diego was (and the weather was truly perfect) the sightseeing was limited to before and after the conference. The session rooms were full. This doesn't happen at most conferences. Trade associations run conferences for a wide variety of banking professions where most of the "work" is done in the hallways and on the links. This is not the case for compliance. We are there for information and knowledge and that happens in the session rooms.

After the sessions, and during breaks, there are important opportunities to network. Catching up with friends and meeting new people in the profession is as important as learning about the regulations. Because when you have a problem, you may need to call someone. In this profession, we constantly learn from others. One good idea shared over coffee or soda can save hours of time or money for the bank. Getting one really good idea should justify the conference. And the conference was so full of good information that everyone went back to work with their money's worth of ideas and something even more - a strong sense of professionalism.

Copyright © 1998 Compliance Action. Originally appeared in Compliance Action, Vol. 3, No. 9, 7/98