Job Summary

• To support the Head of Regulatory Affairs in establishing robust controls on Compliance policies, engage business to ensure compliance policies align with Enterprises Risk Management Framework (ERMF)
• Provide compliance support in completing conduct risk assessment
• Provide regulatory support in relation to conduct risk
• Implementing and maintaining compliance risk management processes and methodology in country.
• Provide support to line manager to ensure the business complies with compliance policies requirements, by providing specialist support to management in identifying risk, compiling risk management plans, providing the appropriate advice and verification checks to compliance-related matters.

 

Job Description

Main accountabilities and approximate time split

Compliance Policies: 40%

• Conduct consultation sessions with the business in all compliance policies and standards
• Conduct gap analysis and Perform verification checks on compliance policies
• Ensures that policy requirements are socialized, discussed, and reviewed
• Prepare Risk Management plan (RMP’s) for compliance policies.
• Tracking changes in compliance policies controls and 
• Conduct training on compliance policies
• Drive Business Areas compliance to compliance policy requirements
• Ensure Policies / Standards are reviewed timeously, material changes are consulted on and localised and socialised in Business.
• Identify gaps and areas of improvement on compliance Policies/Standards and ensure they are gaps are addressed timely.
• Ensure that reporting obligations against policy requirements are fulfilled.
• Provide guidance on the requirements of compliance policies and use of document templates.
• Maintain an up to date and comprehensive compliance register of all Policies and related Standards, and
• Monitor Policies and related Standards lifecycles.

 

Outputs:

• Provide reporting and escalation to Risk Committees
• Identifying, measuring and assessing the adequacy and effectiveness of the compliance control environment through risk and control self-assessments.
• Effective and robust implementation of Integrated Risk Assessment
• Providing support to the 1st line of defence in compilation and check and challenge conduct risk assessment/report
• Effective monitoring of conduct risk 
• Keep the Head of Regulatory informed on compliance matters which may pose, conduct risk, reputation risk, financial or reputational risks for the business observed from compliance policies reviews

 

Conduct Risk: 

20%

Perform analysis of the BU Strategic Initiatives to identifying future plans or decision makings that relate to the following within the product life cycle with the view of identifying areas where possible/potential Conduct risk may exist from:

• Product / Services Design - functions, activities, or practices.
• Sales / Services Process - functions, activities, or practices.
• Post Sales / Services Process - functions, activities, or practices; and
• Governance & Culture - functions, activities, or practices.

• Ensure evidence in respect of conduct risk are obtained from the respective business unit to ensure quality of report.
• Monitor Conduct Risk performance against appetite and set key indicators.
• Manage Conduct risk reporting process, findings and appropriate recommendations for improvement and Road to Green required.
• Follow-up action are undertaken by management to remedy compliance findings, ensuring that action taken is sufficient, timely and that controls introduced are operating as intended to mitigate the risk.
• Provide independent check and challenge of Business and Function Management to ensure their Regulatory Compliance Risk, Conduct Risk, Financial Crime Risk and Reputational Risk management accountabilities are carried out effectively, including risk identification, risk assessments, mitigation plans and reporting.

 

Reputation Risk: 

20%

• Propose and agree reputation risk tolerance and supporting limits with the 1LOD.
• Identify and manage reputation risks in the activities in which they are engaged, in line with the approved tolerance and agreed limits.
• Independent review and challenge of business area reputation risk tolerance, underlying limits, and profiles.
• Operate as the centre of excellence for reputation risk and its constituent risk types.

 

Ethics:

20%

• Facilitate “ethics talk” in the organization
• Help employees to resolve ethical challenges and dilemmas
• Act as an additional safe reporting option for employees
• To report any observed accountability failures to the ethics team or whistleblowing team
• Help the ethics management function to generate ethics awareness
• Help the ethics management function to understand what ethical challenges certain departments/divisions may face

 

Risk and Controls Objectives

Ensure that all activities and duties are carried out in full compliance with regulatory requirements, Absa Operational Risk Framework and internal Absa Policies and Standards

Manage risk and control effectively by applying applicable risk frameworks and embedding a positive risk culture

• Understanding of own role in the end-to-end processes in which you play a part, including applicable risks and controls.
• Adhere to Absa’s policies and procedures applicable to own role, demonstrating sound judgement and responsible risk management.
• Report all risk events / incidents / issues using the defined process for your business area and help to understand why these happened and how to prevent them in future.
• Proactively look for ways to improve the control environment by considering what could go wrong in the processes you operate and how errors could be prevented.
• Continuous and proactive engagement with regulatory bodies, unions where applicable
• All mandatory training completed to deadline

 

Technical skills / Competencies

• Analytical & writing skills.
• Planning and organizing
• Leadership & Interpersonal sensitivity
• Action & Result orientation
• Resilience

 

Essential

• Knowledge of the Compliance policies and regulatory reporting requirements and eager to lean regulatory requirements.

 

Preferred

• Excellent knowledge of MS Office, comfortable with numbers, MIS
• Proficiency in reviewing regulatory controls.

 

Experience, qualifications and other requirements specific to the role

•  Experience in compliance, preferably with an international exposure.
• He/she is likely to be a graduate and / or have a professional qualification.  
• Excellent knowledge of MS Office, comfortable with numbers, MIS. 

 

Key Issues of focus (6 months)

• Ensure conduct risk report is improved and road to green issues are well tracked.
• Review product life cycle in relation to conduct risk requirements.
• Adherence with Integrated Risk Assessment (IRA) requirements
• Ensure data privacy requirements assist the business in their development of compliance monitoring and review programs and ensure robust delivery against policy and Regulatory reporting requirements.
• Ensure all controls in respect to compliance policies are embedded and tracked.
• Ensure policies RMP’s CRA and gap analysis is done timely are in place.
• Ensure policy lifecycle procedure is adhered.
• Ensure compliance manual, policies and procedures are rolled out and embedded across the business.
• Provide support in implementation of Integrated Risk Assessment approach to ABT.

 

Absa Values

Absa’s Values and Behaviors represent the set of standards which governs the actions of all of us who work for the bank. Absa goal is to become   African financial services group that aimed to be the pride of the continent, our purpose is to “Empowering Africa’s tomorrow, together …one story at a time.”

 

Education

Higher Diplomas: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (Required)