Description 

Equity Bank is one of the region’s leading banks whose purpose is to transform the lives and livelihoods of the people of Africa socially and economically by availing them modern and inclusive financial services that maximize their opportunities. With a strong footprint in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and DRC Congo, Equity Bank is now home to over 12 million customers - the largest customer base in Africa. Currently the Bank is seeking additional talent to serve in the role outlined below.

The Head of Compliance Risk Assessment, Governance & Testing shall support the Group Director, CFCC by delivering the strategy and execution of the Compliance, Financial Crime Risk and Conduct Risk assessment programs for the Group. This includes performance of annual Risk and Control assessments for Compliance, FCR and Conduct. In addition, the role is responsible for monitoring client risk and control activities, performance and validation of cyclical activities such as monthly financial crime risk management initiatives, control enhancing and testing, incident research, data acquisition and validation, leading remediation as required and other ad hoc control initiatives, and projects. The role holder will also lead key Governance, Compliance Testing and Enforcement activities, along with the relevant strategic and operational MIs into the various executive and board committees as well as other workgroups.

Primary Responsibilities  

• Responsible for leading the Compliance, Financial Crime Risk and Conduct Risk assessment programs, including the integration of related activities with the ERMF and other risk management frameworks in the Group.
• Collaborates with stakeholders from Risk and the business to develop tactical and strategic solutions to enhance and streamline the risk assessment processes for Compliance, FC and Conduct.
• Lead Compliance, FC and Conduct risk assessment, oversight, governance and testing meetings. Also responsible for the overall programs including ongoing process improvements, managing and tracking assessment activities, and follow-up of assigned actions.
• Lead the design and delivery of a portfolio of Compliance, FC and Conduct risk tests scripts to monitor compliance with regulation and internal policy.
• Oversight and delivery of Compliance, FC and Conduct ongoing scenarios assessment workshops, so that Group anticipates threats, assesses vulnerabilities, and ensures readiness and resiliency.
• Compilation, validation and monthly delivery of Group Compliance, FC and Conduct risk appetite monitoring, including escalations, referrals, and tracking. 
• Analyze compliance, FC and conduct risk events, perform root cause analysis on respective controls and ensure remediation is well designed to avoid repeat of risks and/or issues.
• Support the Business teams in Compliance, FC and Conduct risk self-identification processes and ensure self-identified issues in relation to first line controls are well analyzed and documented with properly designed remediating actions, and track actions to completion.
• Engage in risk discussions with internal/external auditors, regulators and other risk functions within the Group.
• Provide leadership to team members and support in leading the larger Risk & Compliance organization across the Group.

 
Qualifications
 
Minimum Requirements

• Requires 15+ years of professional experience and 6+ years of management experience.

Critical Skills

• No less than 12 years of compliance, financial crime and conduct risk management experience, with significant portion in risk assessment, governance and testing within a large international bank.
• Strong understanding of compliance, FC and conduct risk obligations and requirements within the banking industry.
• Good experience in leveraging analytics and technology solutions to manage risk assessments and other initiatives.
• Critical thinking skills to understand and analyze complex problems.
• Effective communicator with strong writing and verbal abilities to communicate across all levels of the Group.
• Ability to develop strong relationships and collaborate with senior business and function leaders to influence change.
• Proven focus on deliverables, organized, and ability to manage multiple high priority deliverables.
• Self-starter, highly organized, and detailed-oriented.
• Strategic and critical thinking and the ability to concisely convey complex regulatory concepts and possible solution sets.
• Excellent facilitation and presentation skills
• Exercise high level of discretion and confidentiality due to the sensitive nature of the scope of work.
• Extremely detail oriented with ability to elevate details into strategies.

Education

• Master’s degree plus relevant professional qualifications such as CAMS, ICA