Head of Compliance at AjoCard Limited

• Our Ideal Head of Compliance will be responsible for overseeing and managing all aspects of compliance, Risk and Regulatory landscape of the organization.
• This role involves developing, implementing, and maintaining effective compliance programs to ensure adherence to relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards
• He must have a detailed understanding of the regulatory environment within Nigeria across the financial services space and how companies have executed their different propositions.

Responsibilities:

Regulatory Compliance:

• Stay abreast of changes in financial regulations and ensure that the organization is up to date with all relevant laws and industry guidelines.
• Interpret and communicate regulatory requirements to relevant departments within the organization.
• Collaborate with other teams to address compliance issues and provide guidance on regulatory matters.
• Policy Development and Implementation:
• Develop and update compliance policies and procedures to reflect changes in regulations and industry best practices.
• Implement policies across the organization, ensuring that employees are aware of and adhere to compliance requirements.
• Conduct regular training sessions to educate employees on compliance policies and procedures.

Risk Management:

• Conduct regular risk assessments to identify and evaluate potential compliance risks.
• Develop strategies to mitigate identified risks and ensure that appropriate controls are in place.
• Collaborate with other departments to integrate compliance considerations into business processes and systems.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate risks associated with AjoCard Limited and her MFB operations, products, and services.
• Develop and maintain risk management policies, procedures, and frameworks.
• Regularly review risk exposure across various business functions and advise on mitigants.
• Collaborate with relevant stakeholders to implement risk mitigation strategies effectively.
• Conduct a thorough assessment of the business to uncover operational and compliance risks across the board.
• Provide risk management advice to the business.
• Ensure governance practices and monitor the effectiveness of controls.
• Monitor financial services spaces, stay up to date with regulatory changes, and ensure the business is promptly aware of the opportunities or risk exposures.
• Work with business units to ensure the development of a risk register, RCSA, and continuous update of the risk register as the business environment changes.
• In collaboration with the business and operational functions, design and develop controls to mitigate identified risks.
• Develops Key Risk Indicators (KRI) for proactive monitoring of risks across operations of the business.
• Support business and operational units to review Systems and Processes for adequacy of controls as documented in policies and processes and line with best practice, champion implementation and enforcement.
• Take full responsibility for the avoidance of legal and regulatory sanctions against the Company.

Monitoring and Reporting:

• Establish and maintain a system for ongoing monitoring of compliance activities.
• Prepare and submit regular reports to senior management and regulatory bodies, summarizing compliance activities and addressing any identified issues.
• Ensure that internal reporting mechanisms are effective in capturing and escalating potential compliance breaches.
• Prepare detailed monthly, quarterly and ad-hoc reports to the relevant Board committees and CEO for their attention
• Ensure prompt review and monitoring of transactions to identify unusual transactions and patterns and treat professionally.

Investigations and Remediation:

• Lead or participate in investigations related to compliance matters.
• Develop and implement remediation plans to address any identified compliance deficiencies.
• Collaborate with internal audit teams to ensure that compliance controls are effective.
• Ensure all reports of regulators examination, government agencies and external auditors are promptly corrected and responded to within applicable timeframe.

Communication and Training:

• Foster a culture of compliance through effective communication and training programs.
• Provide guidance and support to employees on compliance-related matters.
• Act as a point of contact for compliance-related inquiries from internal and external stakeholders.

Product Development:

• Work with the Product and Engineering and guide during the planning and development of new products to identify all relevant compliance exceptions and ensure same is corrected.
• Ensure all products modifications or adjustments are in tandem with relevant regulations and policies.
• Give strategic compliance direction on overall product process and ensure all round compliance.

Compliance Management:

• Stay abreast of regulatory developments and ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and industry standards.
• Develop and update compliance policies, procedures, and controls to align with regulatory requirements.
• Conduct regular compliance reviews and audits to assess adherence to policies and regulations.
• Immediately conduct a thorough assessment of all products and operations to identify compliance gaps and requirements.
• Define the necessary level of knowledge on existing and emerging regulatory compliance requirements across the organization.
• Annually develop a compliance work plan that reflects the organization’s unique characteristics and champions implementation.
• Review, and coordinate the drafting, negotiating, and structuring of a broad range of commercial contracts, including but not limited to SLAs, sales, partnership agreements IT services, and other agreements.
• Manage the daily operation of reviewing and approving customer onboarding to ensure KYC/AML/CFT compliance.
• Liaise with and manage relations with relevant stakeholders like business leads, engineering leads, and the CEO to deliver a high standard of advice, acting as a trusted adviser.
• Create and constantly review the organization's compliance rule book to ensure all regulatory and reporting requirements are adhered to.
• Sensitize & educate customer-facing functions on proper customer onboarding processes and KYC/AML/CFT Controls in line with the CBN provisions and global best practices.
• Develop and implement policies and procedures across all business units to address the company’s objectives and regulators' direction.
• Conduct compliance audits and prepare reports to the management and Board/Board Committee.
• Communicate with regulators, auditors, and other stakeholders to ensure compliance with financial regulations and resolve any compliance issues that may arise.
• Maintain records of compliance activities including regulator audits, outcomes of investigations, and training brochures.
• Manage the compliance team in embedding compliance risk management processes as required by relevant regulatory requirements, applicable codes of conduct, and the minimum standards.
• Ensure prompt review of newly created wallets and Accounts for compliance with relevant KYC regulations.

Other responsibilities

• Represent the organization in all law enforcement agencies where and when required i.e. EFCC, NFIU, Interpol, ICPC, Nigerian Police, NCS etc.
• Loosely oversee the finance, settlement, and reporting functions of the organization.
• Manage the annual process of finance audit and prepare the relevant reports.
• Champion relevant certification and the annual recertification of various certifications of the organization like PCI, NDPR, etc.
• Ensure continuous compliance with tax and other statutory obligations.
• Loosely manage the statutory compliance activities of the holding/parent company.
• Loosely manage the legal activities of the holding/parent company and her subsidiaries.

Requirements:

• A Bachelor's degree in any finance related field or Law (Preferably LLB)
• Minimum of 8+ years of experience in a compliance role within the financial services sector.
• In-depth knowledge of financial regulations and industry standards.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams.
• Relevant Certifications, i.e. ACA, ACCA, DCP, ACIFC, MCP, ACIB etc.