Wedbush Securities (estd 1955), which provides a wide range of securities brokerage, wealth management and investment banking services, has appointed ex-Rabobank stalwart Michael McMaster (pictured) as chief compliance officer.

McMaster has also become the firm's senior vice president. He is responsible for the firm's compliance oversight function and its liaison compliance matters with its regulators which include FINRA, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Stock Exchange. He is based in the firm's Los Angeles headquarters, reporting to General Counsel Andrew Druch.

The new CCO has 30 years of experience in financial services, with more than 22 of those years in compliance jobs, along with plenty of experience of managing large regulatory and compliance-related projects. He began his career, in much the same manner as Nick Leeson, as a trader. He then obtained a law degree and became an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn. He then returned to the financial industry, most recently as the chief compliance officer of BNY Mellon's Capital Markets and Clearance and Collateral Management Divisions and previously as CCO for Libra Securities and as CCO and Counsel with Rabobank's broker-dealer unit.

He received his undergraduate degree in Finance from Manhattan College and his Juris Doctorate from New York Law School. He is also an adjunct professor at New York Law School and is the founding Chairman of the Compliance Committee for the New York City Bar Association. He has written a book.