Roy Lau - Compliance Officer
"The flat organizational structure makes it easier to express ideas"
Name: Roy Lau
Location: Hong Kong
Job title: Compliance Officer
Job description: Ensure that the company and its staff are working within internal and external rules and regulations.
Basically, I am the Compliance Department in our Hong Kong office. So, I maintain close contact with the traders and other departments. I also have a weekly meeting with our Managing Director, Jan Willem, as well as a monthly meeting with my compliance colleagues at HQ in Amsterdam.
Work is exciting. I have to deal with different people internally and externally and I enjoy that. Also, IMC creates a comfortable and relaxing office environment that’s designed to cater for the fast working pace. And I like the flat organizational structure, which makes it easier to express ideas.
Bringing experience
Before coming to IMC, I worked for ABN AMRO doing compliance-related work. Then I was at Morgan Stanley as an Associate in the anti-money laundering team.
IMC hired me on the basis of what I can contribute based on my previous experience.
Gaining knowledge
To some extent, there are downtimes and uptimes in this job. As I’m not so familiar with the trading terminology and strategies, I sometimes use the quieter periods to gain trading knowledge.
For instance, I’m currently reading a book called ‘Options Volatility and Pricing’, borrowed from IMC. It’s really good for beginners as it illustrates with plenty of examples and graphs.
That’s one of the reasons I love this job. It allows me to pursue a broader scope of compliance i.e. trading compliance, and this is exactly what I want to explore.
Clear heads for clear solutions
I don’t measure the success of each day. Instead, I measure the success of each task in terms of the man-hours needed and whether or not the outcome is satisfactory.
Of course not every task is smooth and easy. However, we have to stay calm so as to clear our minds in order to come up with solutions. If I complete a relatively difficult task, I grab a bottle of beer at our fridge.
At the weekend I like to hike and see more of the ‘green’ stuff. And at home I like to meditate, which helps to relax my mind and hence think deeply about how to take the next step.