Business and Financial Operations
Financial Examiners
Enforce or ensure compliance with laws and regulations governing financial and securities institutions and financial and real estate transactions. May examine, verify, or authenticate records.
MAY 2025 · OCCUPATIONAL WAGES
A wage reference for United States.
Published wage percentiles describe a distribution within the source occupation group. They provide context for a career decision; employer packages and job offers have their own terms.
Source wage group: Financial Examiners
This wage group may include multiple detailed occupations. The figures are for the source group, which may be broader than Financial Examiners. They are not an exact-title, employer, experience or seniority match.
May 2025 · USD · United States. Annual and hourly figures are shown only when the source publishes them; neither is calculated from the other.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage data, distributed through the O*NET® OnLine service.
Median annual wage$94,160USD per year · Published 50th percentile
Median hourly wage$45.27USD per hour · Published 50th percentile
Annual wage thresholds
USD per year
Hourly wage thresholds
USD per hour
| Percentile | Annual wage (USD/year) | Hourly wage (USD/hour) |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $56,230 | $27.04 |
| 25th | $70,660 | $33.97 |
| 50th · Median | $94,160 | $45.27 |
| 75th | $129,600 | $62.31 |
| 90th | $174,200 | $83.75 |
“≥” means at least the published amount; “≤” means at most that amount. These are bounds, not exact values. “Not published” means the source did not provide that figure. Occupational wages follow the source definition and do not establish an employer’s base salary, equity or total compensation.
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Compare 49 state/DC wage marketsTHE WORK BEHIND THE TITLE
What this career involves.
Occupation definitions describe common work. Responsibilities and requirements vary by employer and specific job.
Selected title examples
AML Director (Anti-Money Laundering Director)Anti Money Laundering Investigator (AML Investigator)Bank Compliance OfficerBank ExaminerBank Secrecy Act Anti-Money Laundering Officer (BSA/AML Officer)BSA Analyst (Business Systems Analyst)BSA Officer (Bank Secrecy Act Officer)BSA Specialist (Bank Secrecy Act Specialist)Commercial Escrow OfficerCommunity Reinvestment Act Officer (CRA Officer)Compliance AnalystCompliance Coordinator
Expand more title examples (23)
Compliance InvestigatorCompliance SpecialistCompliance TesterCredit Union ExaminerCredit Union Field ExaminerEscrow CloserExaminerExamining OfficerFinancial Compliance ExaminerFinancial Crimes InvestigatorFinancial ExaminerFinancial Institution ExaminerFinancial InvestigatorHome Mortgage Disclosure Act Specialist (HMDA Specialist)Internal AuditorKYC Analyst (Know Your Customer Analyst)National Bank ExaminerPayroll ExaminerPension ExaminerPersonal Banking ManagerSecurities Compliance ExaminerTitle Escrow OfficerTreasury Analyst
Typical tasks
- Direct and participate in formal and informal meetings with bank directors, trustees, senior management, counsels, outside accountants, and consultants to gather information and discuss findings.
- Recommend actions to ensure compliance with laws and regulations, or to protect solvency of institutions.
- Prepare reports, exhibits, and other supporting schedules that detail an institution's safety and soundness, compliance with laws and regulations, and recommended solutions to questionable financial conditions.
- Resolve problems concerning the overall financial integrity of banking institutions including loan investment portfolios, capital, earnings, and specific or large troubled accounts.
- Investigate activities of institutions to enforce laws and regulations and to ensure legality of transactions and operations or financial solvency.
- Review balance sheets, operating income and expense accounts, and loan documentation to confirm institution assets and liabilities.
Expand more tasks (11)
- Plan, supervise, and review work of assigned subordinates.
- Review audit reports of internal and external auditors to monitor adequacy of scope of reports or to discover specific weaknesses in internal routines.
- Examine the minutes of meetings of directors, stockholders, and committees to investigate the specific authority extended at various levels of management.
- Train other examiners in the financial examination process.
- Establish guidelines for procedures and policies that comply with new and revised regulations and direct their implementation.
- Review and analyze new, proposed, or revised laws, regulations, policies, and procedures to interpret their meaning and determine their impact.
- Provide regulatory compliance training to employees.
- Evaluate data processing applications for institutions under examination to develop recommendations for coordinating existing systems with examination procedures.
- Review applications for mergers, acquisitions, establishment of new institutions, acceptance in Federal Reserve System, or registration of securities sales to determine their public interest value and conformance to regulations, and recommend acceptance or rejection.
- Verify and inspect cash reserves, assigned collateral, and bank-owned securities to check internal control procedures.
- Confer with officials of real estate, securities, or financial institution industries to exchange views and discuss issues or pending cases.
Skills used in this work
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Expand more skills (29)
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
- Management of Financial Resources
- Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Management of Material Resources
- Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
- Programming
- Writing computer programs for various purposes.
- Technology Design
- Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Equipment Maintenance
- Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
- Equipment Selection
- Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
- Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or programs to meet specifications.
- Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
- Troubleshooting
- Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
FIND YOUR MARKET
United States wage reference Explore wages by location.
211 retained state and local wage references are available. Start with these selected locations, or search the full market directory for this career.
Selected states
Selected metro and nonmetro areas
Akron, OHAlbany-Schenectady-Troy, NYAlbuquerque, NMAnchorage, AKAtlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GAAtlantic City-Hammonton, NJAustin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TXBakersfield-Delano, CACentral East New York nonmetropolitan areaCentral Kentucky nonmetropolitan areaCentral Missouri nonmetropolitan areaCentral New Hampshire nonmetropolitan area
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