Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for European Financial Regulatory Compliance Attorney

🎯 Role Definition

The European Financial Regulatory Compliance Attorney is a senior legal/compliance advisor who provides pragmatic, business-facing regulatory guidance across European jurisdictions. This role manages regulatory risk for banks, fintechs, asset managers, payment institutions and crypto firms by translating complex EU and member-state regulations (MiFID II/MiFIR, AML/CTF, PSD2, CRD/CRR, EMIR, SFTR, MiCA, GDPR, sanctions regimes, ESMA, EBA and national regulators) into actionable policies, controls, product requirements and regulatory submissions. The attorney coordinates cross-functional teams, leads regulatory change programs, engages with supervisors and supports licensing, investigations, audits and remediation efforts.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Regulatory associate in a law firm or financial services practice
In-house compliance counsel (senior associate / counsel)
Regulatory affairs or legal role in fintech/payments/crypto

Advancement To:

Head of Regulatory Compliance (EMEA)
Director / Senior Director, Regulatory Affairs
Legal Counsel – Group Regulatory or Chief Compliance Officer (for smaller firms)

Lateral Moves:

Regulatory policy advisor at a trade association or regulatory body
Compliance lead for a specific product line (payments, securities, crypto)
Senior legal counsel for licensing & enforcement

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Provide end-to-end regulatory advice on EU and member-state financial services laws (MiFID II/MiFIR, MiCA, PSD2, AML/CTF, CRD/CRR, EMIR, SFTR, UCITS/AIFMD) and applicable national rules; draft legal memos and decision papers that convert complex obligations into actionable business requirements.
Lead and manage licensing applications and authorisation projects for banks, payment institutions, e-money institutions and crypto-asset service providers across multiple European jurisdictions, including preparation of business plans, regulatory returns, governance frameworks and engagement with national competent authorities.
Design, review and approve compliance frameworks, policies and procedures (KYC/EDD, transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, suspicious activity reporting, trade surveillance, conflicts of interest, best execution, order handling) to ensure effective control environments and regulatory alignment.
Own regulatory change management for European legal and compliance issues: track legislative and guideline developments (ESMA, EBA, ECB, FCA, BaFin, ACPR, CNMV) and lead cross-functional implementation programs, timelines, impact assessments and training rollouts.
Act as primary point of contact with regulators for supervisory meetings, inspections, enforcement inquiries and remedial programmes; prepare pre-meeting briefings, regulatory submissions, responses to consultations and remediation roadmaps.
Conduct regulatory risk assessments for new products, services and market entries (including PSD2 APIs, open banking, crypto-asset offerings, tokenisation and crowdfunding) and provide go/no-go legal advice with mitigation measures and contractual protections.
Provide legal and compliance support for corporate transactions, onboarding of strategic partners, outsourcing and vendor relationships; draft and negotiate regulatory clauses, SLAs and outsourcing agreements ensuring regulatory resilience and third-party risk controls.
Develop and run regulatory training and awareness programs for front-line staff, compliance, legal and senior management covering MiFID II, AML, sanctions, GDPR and product-specific obligations; ensure materials are role-based and auditable.
Oversee AML/CTF program governance including sanctions lists management, transaction monitoring rule sets, SAR filing strategies and liaison with FIUs and national authorities to ensure compliance and effective remediation of regulatory findings.
Lead investigations into suspected regulatory breaches, coordinate internal enquiries, preserve privilege where appropriate, prepare disciplinary or remediation recommendations and manage regulatory notifications and settlement negotiations.
Advise on capital, prudential and liquidity requirements under CRD/CRR and national rules; support stress testing, regulatory reporting, and regulatory capital modelling with legal interpretation and compliance obligations.
Draft and review client-facing and marketing materials, client agreements, terms of business and product disclosures to ensure compliance with investor protection rules, promotion restrictions and anti-misleading requirements under EU law and national conduct regimes.
Provide legal support on data protection and information governance matters (GDPR) intersecting with financial regulation, including lawful basis for processing, cross-border data flows, regulatory reporting, and data retention policies.
Coordinate with trade compliance and sanctions officers to design and maintain sanctions screening programs, travel rule implementations and dynamic risk-based compliance controls for cross-border payments and crypto transactions.
Support implementation of trade reporting, transaction reporting and recordkeeping obligations (MiFIR, EMIR, SFTR) including trade lifecycle mapping, validation of reporting architecture and remediation of reporting errors.
Advise on market abuse, insider dealing, tipping-off and surveillance policies; support internal surveillance programs and remediation of detected market conduct issues in coordination with legal and trading teams.
Provide practical guidance on consumer protection rules, electronic communications, disclosure obligations and complaints handling to reduce litigation and regulatory enforcement risk in retail and professional client interactions.
Draft and review internal governance documents (board materials, compliance committee papers, escalation protocols) to ensure clear escalation of regulatory issues and evidence of effective oversight for senior management and boards.
Support business development and product teams with regulatory input on go-to-market strategies, pilot programmes, sandbox applications and regulatory innovation initiatives to accelerate compliant product launches.
Assist in preparing and coordinating audit responses, internal and external regulatory audits, regulatory questionnaires and third-party assessments; drive remediation plans and evidence collection to close findings.
Maintain a proactive horizon scanning program and produce succinct, prioritized regulatory impact reports and playbooks that help business units prioritize resources and compliance investments.

Secondary Functions

Support regulatory analytics and metrics reporting to measure control effectiveness, KPI/KRIs and remediation progress across European operations.
Coordinate with legal ops and external counsel to manage budget, scope and timelines for multi-jurisdictional regulatory projects and litigation matters.
Contribute to policy advocacy efforts and public consultations by drafting response papers and representing the organization’s position to regulators and industry groups.
Mentor and coach junior lawyers and compliance analysts; develop internal knowledge repositories and standardized templates for regulatory documentation.
Collaborate with IT and security teams to align compliance requirements with system design for trade surveillance, transaction monitoring and data retention.
Participate in cross-border incident response and business continuity planning where regulatory notification is required.
Support periodic testing and validation of compliance systems (KYC, AML, trade surveillance) and coordinate remediation of technical gaps identified by internal testing.
Assist in vendor due diligence and onboarding for cloud, custody, clearing and payments infrastructure to ensure regulatory and contractual compliance.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Deep knowledge of EU financial services regulatory framework: MiFID II/MiFIR, PSD2, CRD/CRR, EMIR, SFTR, AIFMD/UCITS and MiCA.
Strong expertise in AML/CTF law and practice across EU/EEA, including transaction monitoring, SARs/SAR filing thresholds, risk-based customer due diligence and sanctions compliance.
Hands-on experience preparing licensing and authorization submissions for payment institutions, e-money institutions, banks and crypto-asset service providers.
Practical understanding of GDPR and data protection law as it interfaces with financial regulation, regulatory reporting and cross-border data transfers.
Experience with regulatory reporting regimes (transaction reporting, trade reporting, prudential reporting) and related accountability frameworks.
Knowledge of national regulator practices and supervisory expectations (ESMA, EBA, ECB, FCA, BaFin, ACPR, CSSF etc.) and experience liaising with them.
Proficiency in drafting regulatory filings, position papers, board papers, remediation plans and response letters to supervisory bodies.
Ability to map product workflows to regulatory obligations (KYC, payments flows, custody, settlement) and design compliant processes and controls.
Experience with compliance technology and tools: KYC/EDD platforms, transaction monitoring systems, trade surveillance software and regulatory reporting engines.
Familiarity with financial markets instruments, trading lifecycle, custody and clearing arrangements for securities and derivatives.
Practical experience in internal investigations, evidence preservation, privilege considerations and regulatory notification strategies.
Contract drafting and negotiation skills for vendor contracts, outsourcing agreements and customer terms with regulatory protections.

Soft Skills

Clear, commercial and persuasive drafting with the ability to simplify complex regulatory issues for business stakeholders and senior leadership.
Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills; proven ability to work with product, engineering, risk, finance and operations teams.
Strategic thinking and problem solving with focus on pragmatic, risk-based solutions rather than purely legalistic answers.
Project management skills to lead multi-jurisdictional regulatory implementations and track cross-functional deliverables.
High emotional intelligence and resilience when handling regulatory scrutiny, inspections and enforcement scenarios.
Ability to prioritise effectively under tight deadlines and shifting regulatory priorities.
Coaching and mentoring aptitude to develop junior team members and increase organizational regulatory capability.
Attention to detail and high standards for documentation and auditability.
Proactive mindset for horizon scanning and early engagement on regulatory developments.
Cross-cultural communication skills and fluency in English; additional European languages (French, German, Spanish, Italian) are highly desirable.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Qualified lawyer (Solicitor/Bar) in a recognized European jurisdiction or equivalent legal qualification; strong compliance certification experience (e.g., ICA, CAMS) is valued.

Preferred Education:

Advanced law degree (LL.M.) or postgraduate qualification in financial regulation, European law, or related field; additional compliance certifications (CAMS, ICA Advanced) are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Law (corporate, financial services, EU law)
Finance, Economics or Banking
Data protection and compliance-related postgraduate studies

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

6–12+ years of combined law firm and/or in-house regulatory compliance experience with significant exposure to European financial services regulation.

Preferred:

At least 3–5 years leading multi-jurisdictional regulatory projects or licensing applications across multiple EU member states.
Demonstrable experience interacting with senior regulators (ESMA, EBA, national competent authorities) and managing regulatory inspections, investigations or enforcement matters.
Experience working with fintechs, payments, crypto-asset service providers, investment firms or banks, with hands-on implementation experience of product-to-regulatory mapping.