Standard Chartered Bank
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To us, good performance is about much more than turning a profit. It’s about showing how you embody our valued behaviours – do the right thing, better together and never settle – as well as our brand promise, Here for good. We’re committed to promoting equality in the workplace and creating an inclusive and flexible culture – one where everyone can realise their full potential and make a positive contribution to our organisation. This in turn helps us to provide better support to our broad client base
Job Purpose:
As Head of the Risk function for Africa and the Middle East (AME) and a key member of our Regional Management Team (RMT), the job holder is responsible for second line of defence responsibilities related to risk management across AME, which involves oversight and challenge of risk management actions of the first line, including; building a culture of good conduct in the AME Risk function and providing governance oversight to embed the Enterprise Risk Management Framework including the Principal Risk Types, as well as material cross-cutting and overarching risks within the AME region.
As Regional Chief Credit Officer for Africa and the Middle East (AME) the successful candidate will have responsibility for wholesale lending decisions, be responsible for final credit decisions for wholesale lending facilities in AME.
Role Responsibilities (not limited to):
Strategy – Inform the development of business plans with the provision of cost and impairment forecasts and a balanced judgement on the external environment. – Contribute to the development of performance management processes, to encourage development of an appropriate risk culture and discipline. – Embed innovation, digitisation and analytics by defining and actioning the future state analytics operating model. – Responsible for risk related disclosure to regulators, investors, analysts and rating agencies (such as annual and interim results, Pillar 3 and ensure they are compliant with applicable regulatory requirements.) – Represent the Risk function in relevant committees or management forums. – Supervise the teams to achieve sound management of all aspects of risk in each and every country – Appraise and contribute to the development of the Group’s strategic plans. – Align the strategy of the Risk function in AME with business strategy and risk appetite and oversee its execution. – Plan development of risk parameters for AME according to Risk Type Frameworks and document in portfolio standards
Business – Define the strategic intent and agenda for the Risk function in AME. – Provide Group information, guidance, best practice and expertise to ensure that the Risk Function in AME applies the same business strategy with Group and operate the risk management system – Communicate to the Business the strategic intent and collective agenda for the Risk Function in AME. – Maintain and develop risk capabilities and skills to meet ongoing business needs and plans – awareness and understanding of the wider business, economic and market environment in which the Group operates. – Identify, measure and monitor material risk affecting CIB and CB portfolios in the context of the external market environments
Processes – Responsible for the operational efficiency and effectiveness of the Risk function in AME, including risk management processes, by defining and maintaining an operational excellence agenda for the Risk Function in AME. – Ensure effective management of operational risks within the Risk function in AME and compliance with applicable internal policies, and external laws and regulations. – Control portfolio with the set risk parameters to ensure risk profile within risk appetite – Ensure credit approvals are within delegated authorities
People and Talent – Lead through example and build the appropriate culture and values. Set appropriate tone and expectations from my team and work in collaboration with risk and control partners. – Ensure the provision of ongoing training and development of people and ensure that holders of all critical functions are suitably skilled and qualified for their roles ensuring that they have effective supervision in place to mitigate any risks. – Employ, engage and retain high quality people, with succession planning for critical roles. – Responsibility to review team structure/capacity plans. – Set and monitor job descriptions and objectives for direct reports and provide feedback and rewards in line with their performance against those responsibilities and objectives. – Uphold and reinforce the independence of the Risk function from those whose primary responsibility is to maximise short term revenues and profits
Risk Appetite – Uphold the integrity of risk/return decisions, by challenging business and control function heads to demonstrate that risk origination and control decisions are properly informed and consistent with strategy and risk appetite – Ensure that effective management response plans are in place to respond to extreme but plausible scenarios – Direct appropriate response to material events or other risk issues that come to the role holder’s attention – Propose, in consultation with Group, the overall risk appetite in AME for review by the Risk Committee and approval by the Board – Assess periodically the risk profile of the AME region and maintain alignment with risk appetite by rebalancing of risks or controls that may be required in response to internal and external factors – Initiate, at least annually and with guidance from Group specialists, a stress test and scenario programme, review the results and assess their implications. – Assess the credit risk profile of the CIB/CB business in AME and maintain alignment with risk appetite by rebalancing of risks or controls that may be required in response to internal and external factors. – Identify, assess, monitor, control and mitigate risks to the AME market. Also, be aware of and understand key risks facing AME, as well as the role the individual plays in managing them. – The ability to interpret the Group’s financial information, identify key issues based on this information and put in place appropriate controls and measures.
Risk Ownership – Ensure risk identification, measurement and modelling capabilities are objective, consistent and compliant with applicable regulations. – Ensure that material risk exposures and related issues are reported to the responsible governance committees and to the Board or Board committee as appropriate – Ensure appropriate judgement is applied in the discharge of risk authorities assigned to the jobholder, taking account of concentration risk across sectors, geographies and markets where applicable. – Assign risk authorities to suitable named individuals in line with their skills and judgement. – Design, maintain and effectively communicate risk control parameters across AME, including policies, control standards, risk exposure limits and other control levers in order to maintain AME’s risk profile in line with overall risk appetite. – Obtain assurance regarding the effectiveness of controls and compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
Governance – Maintain a good understanding of the requirements of key external stakeholders relevant to role and ensure these are well understood internally and reflected in internal procedures. – Maintain an open and cooperative relationship in dealings with regulators. – Execute director responsibilities to entities where appointed as a Director, to ensure effective oversight and governance in line with local laws and the Group’s policies and risk frameworks. – Ensure that the countries consistently and effectively follow the Group’s standard risk committee structure. – Ensure business heads and all Country Risk Framework Owners understand and accept their risk management responsibilities – Ensure that the AME Risk Committee remains efficient, fit for purpose and operates within its terms of reference. – Responsible for assessing the effectiveness of AME’s arrangements to deliver effective governance, oversight and controls in the business and, if necessary, oversee changes in these areas – Obtain assurance regarding the effectiveness of credit controls and compliance with applicable laws & regulations. – Actively participate in key committees through standing membership
Regulatory & Business Conduct – Display exemplary conduct and live by the Group’s Values and Code of Conduct. – Take personal responsibility for embedding the highest standards of ethics, including regulatory and business conduct, across Standard Chartered Bank. This includes understanding and ensuring compliance with, in letter and spirit, all applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and the Group Code of Conduct. – Lead the AME Risk Function to achieve the outcomes set out in the Bank’s Conduct Principles: Fair Outcomes for Clients; Effective Financial Markets; Financial Crime Compliance; The Right Environment. – Effectively and collaboratively identify, escalate, mitigate and resolve risk, conduct and compliance matters. – Exercise authorities delegated by the Board of Directors and act in accordance with Articles of Association
Our Ideal Candidate: – Preferably Graduate education within Finance/Economics related disciplines – Significant banking/banking related experience – Preferably experience within the Africa, Middle East regions – ideally both, within a senior business and/or Risk Management role. – Professional memberships i.e. required for roles in continuous development/improvement awareness of current practices etc: – Effective workplace writing or communication courses – Role Specific Technical Skills And Competencies include: C&I Credit Risk, Stressed Asset Risk/ Stressed Asset Group, Retail and Private Banking Credit Risk, Risk – Market/Liquidity Risk.
What’s in it for you? This is a fantastic opportunity for a senior leader with significant People Leader and large team management experience to hold a Regional Management Team (RMT) role within one of the Bank’s key and strategic markets.
About Standard Chartered We’re an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 160 years, we’ve worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you’re looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents. And we can’t wait to see the talents you can bring us. Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you’ll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion. Together we:
Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do.
Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well.
Be better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others and work collectively to build for the long term.
In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.
Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
Time-off including annual, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 weeks maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits.
A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning.
Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies – everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.
Recruitment assessments – some of our roles use assessments to help us understand how suitable you are for the role you’ve applied to. If you are invited to take an assessment, this is great news. It means your application has progressed to an important stage of our recruitment process.
Visit our careers website www.sc.com/career
Desired Skills and Experience As Head of the Risk function for Africa and the Middle East (AME) and a key member of our Regional Management Team (RMT), the job holder is responsible for second line of defence responsibilities related to risk management across AME, which involves oversight and challenge of risk management actions of the first line, including; building a culture of good conduct in the AME Risk function and providing governance oversight to embed the Enterprise Risk Management Framework including the Principal Risk Types, as well as material cross-cutting and overarching risks within the AME region.
