Nowadays it looks like everyone online wants your credit card number or personal information, but how many would you actually trust with it? You would never send your business’ financial information or your clients’ information to someone you didn’t know, right?

If you wouldn’t give this financial information to a random person online, then why would you give it to new hires you haven’t done a background check on?  Just like you can never be sure who you’re talking to on the internet until you meet them, you can never be sure who you’re hiring until you run a background check on them.

Hiring a wrong person in financial services can cost you more than you think—especially if you’re a small business that doesn’t have the savings to mitigate a loss.

Why Pre-Employment Screening is Necessary for Financial Sector Jobs

Let’s imagine that a bank hires someone to work as a teller without running a background check on them. Unknown to the bank, this person has a history of theft and fraud. This new hire then steals financial information from hundreds of the bank’s clients. The bank’s clients have lost all their money, and the bank is now responsible for all the damage this person has done.

Putting financial information in the wrong hands can destroy someone’s life. If you’ve been entrusted with sensitive information, you have a responsibility to protect the people who own that information. Or, if the job involves your business’ financial information, then you need to protect your business by ensuring that the person is honest.

One of the best ways to do this is to run a background check on new hires.

If you are not compliant, and your new hire does something illegal, you could be held responsible as the Principal Employer. It will also damage your business’ reputation, especially if you specialize in finances or have access to financial information.

Which Background Checks Are Needed for the Financial Industry?

Comprehensive background checks are recommended and may be required for financial industry positions. Here are a few common comprehensive background check reports and why they matter.

• Identity Verification: Ensures that your new hire is who they say they are. This check is critical to the financial industry because it makes sure that all your other background checks search for the right person.
• Criminal Background Check: Looks at criminal databases for convictions the new hire may have. This background check ensures that your new hire doesn’t have any criminal convictions that would disqualify them from working in the financial sector or would make them unsafe around your other employees or clients.
• Education Verification: To see if your new hire has the education &/or degree they need for the job position. This check is important because many financial jobs require a college degree.
• License Check: To ensure that your new hire has the license they need for the job. This is important because many financial jobs require specific licensing standards to be met.
• Employment Verification: Make sure your new hire has the employment history that was on their resume. This background check shows if your new hire has the experience they need for the job and if they’re honest on their resume.
• Credit Check: This looks at a new hire’s credit history to see if they’re financially responsible. Many companies look at a financial service job applicant’s credit history with the belief that being responsible with their own money means they will be responsible with the company’s.
• Broker Qualifications:  A broker qualifications check tells you if your new broker is registered and/or has any complaints on their file. This is important because brokers need the proper registrations to legally do their job.

How to Run a Compliant Background Check

Here are a few basic best practices for background checks.

• Provide a separate document to get your job applicant’s consent &  Make sure to explain to the applicant what kind of background checks you are going to run.
• Give the applicant a copy of the findings and allow them to dispute it & If you do decide not to hire based on background check results, tell the job applicant why you chose not to hire them.
• Find a trustworthy background check partner like V Trace to help you figure out what laws apply to your situation and gives you results you can count on.

At V Trace we offer background checks tailored to your industry needs. We can help you decide what background checks you need to run and what checks you want to run while explaining how to do it.   Contact us today to learn more about our background check packages.