Head of Compliance at AjoCard Limited

AjoCard Limited is a fintech company that makes it easy for consumers to operate digitally. The company has designed, built, and launched technical solutions to reduce the friction in everyday financial transactions, whether it is to improve savings for everyday consumers removed from financial services, or banked consumers without access to their financial transaction platforms due to location. AjoCard enables these transactions everywhere using a combination of technology (such as software and mobile POSs) and expanding agency platforms.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Head of Compliance

Location: Lagos
Employment Type: Full-time

Job Description

• 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.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV to: [email protected] using the Job Title as the subject of the email.