Support the end‑to‑end development, review, and governance of the Risk Management and Compliance Programme (RMCP) and aligned financial crime policies and standards
Manage policy lifecycle activities, including drafting, stakeholder engagement, impact assessment, approval and implementation
Ensure policies and standards are aligned to regulatory expectations, internal risk appetite and industry best practice
Provide subject matter advice and guidance on policy interpretation and application across business, Technology and FCC functions
Support Africa Regions and International Offices with localisation of Policies and Standards through review and challenge of jurisdiction-specific policy adaptations
Risk Based Approach:
Manage the Group Risk‑Based Assessment (RBA) framework, ensuring consistent application across Absa while allowing for justified jurisdictional or business‑specific requirements.
Ensure customer and product risk is assessed, applying agreed static risk factors to produce an initial customer risk rating aligned to Group standards.
Centralisation of the RBA model, ensuring risk scoring is system‑based, scalable, governed and auditable.
Partner with Technology and Data teams to design and maintain the RBA, covering data ingestion, scoring logic and rules execution.
Act as a key liaison between FCC, Technology, Data, Operations, and Business, translating regulatory and risk requirements into practical, implementable solutions.
Provide subject‑matter expertise to senior governance forums and regulators on RBA methodology, system capability, and risk outcomes.
Financial Crime Risk Assessments
Develop, review and enhance financial crime risk assessments including customer, product, country, channel and business risk assessments
Provide subject‑matter expertise to senior governance forums and regulators on RBA methodology, system capability, and risk outcomes.
Maintain and enhance risk methodologies, including the Country Risk Matrix, risk rating tools, and supporting datasets
Conduct structured horizon scanning to identify emerging threats, vulnerabilities and typologies
Perform and challenge regulatory gap analyses, ensuring remediation plans are tracked and delivered
Drive continuous improvement of the RMCP through integration of risk assessment outputs and threat intelligence
Ecosystem Threat Management, Models & Tools
Support the identification, assessment and mitigation of financial crime threats through participation in ecosystem forums and collaboration with key stakeholders
Maintain and enhance threat management tools, including threat cards and digitised threat libraries
Contribute to the development and governance of financial crime models and tools (e.g. risk matrices, manual risk tools, correspondent banking tools)
Support governance of approved third-party data providers and risk intelligence sources
Act as subject matter expert support for key FCC systems, including PEP and adverse media tools
Dispensations, Waivers & Breaches (DWB)
Review and provide guidance on dispensations, waivers and breaches to ensure consistent, risk-based outcomes aligned to RMCP requirements
Ensure appropriate documentation, governance and escalation of policy deviations
Identify recurring themes and systemic weaknesses to inform policy and control enhancements
Regulatory Engagement, Inspections & Industry Influence
Support engagement with regulators, including responding to queries, thematic reviews and supervisory inspections
Coordinate and draft regulatory responses, briefing notes, and submissions
Participate in industry forums, regulatory consultations and advocacy initiatives
Analyse and coordinate responses to draft legislation and regulatory developments
Monitor global and regional regulatory developments and assess their impact on the Group
Maintain the financial crime regulatory universe and trac
Additional Information
Empowering Africa's tomorrow, together...one story at a time.
With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group.
Job Summary
To support the Financial Crime Compliance Policy & Regulatory Management (FCCPRM) function as a centre of excellence for financial crime policy, regulatory management, and strategic risk oversight by delivering across core FCCPRM service pillars, including RMCP governance, financial crime risk assessments, regulatory engagement, and ecosystem threat management.
The role is responsible for translating regulatory requirements into practical, risk-based policy and control frameworks, enhancing supervisory readiness, and enabling consistent implementation across the Group.
Job Description
Absa · Johannesburg, South Africa