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Job Summary
The Head of Advisory – Compliance at Vice President level is a critical leadership role responsible to lead the Compliance Advisory function as a trusted, independent second-line business partner for Absa Bank (Mauritius) Limited. The role oversees a team of Compliance Business Partners providing integrated, risk-based advice across Financial Crime Compliance, Compliance, Conduct Risk and Regulatory Risk. The role enables timely and well-governed business decisions by engaging early on strategic initiatives, consolidating specialist compliance input, challenging constructively, and ensuring that the advisory function remain aligned with applicable regulatory requirements and obligations, Absa policies and standards, Absa risk appetite and customer outcomes.
The role will:
Provide independent second-line advice, challenge and oversight.
Consolidate specialist compliance input for clear business consumption.
Recommend conditions, mitigants, escalation or non-support where risk is not adequately managed.
Escalate material matters to risk owners, the Head of Financial Crime Compliance & MLRO, or the Head of Compliance and governance forums.
The role will report to the Head of Financial Crime Compliance & MLRO, with a dotted reporting line to the Head of Compliance
Job Description
Leadership and Strategy
Set the advisory strategy, operating model and annual priorities in alignment with the Compliance strategy and business strategic plans and key objectives.
Lead and develop a team of compliance professionals, ensuring they have the necessary skills and resources to perform their roles effectively.
Allocate work based on risk, complexity, capability and business priority; manage capacity, succession and technical proficiency across the team.
Promote collaboration across FCC, Conduct, Regulatory Affairs, Monitoring and Testing, Legal, Risk and other control functions while preserving second-line independence.
Integrated Compliance Advisory and Query Management
Oversee the timely, consistent and risk-based resolution of business advisory queries across FCC, Compliance, Conduct and Regulatory Risk.
Establish and monitor intake, triage, ownership, escalation and service-level disciplines, including ageing, quality and thematic analysis of queries.
Provide or approve advice on complex, material, novel or sensitive matters and ensure specialist risk owner input is obtained where required, including from FCC, Compliance, Regulatory, or other risk owners.
Provide input to policies, standards and internal controls review or adoption. Drive and monitor embedment of updates in Absa policies and standards into processes and internal controls.
Participate, and provide advisory input into legal and regulatory change process within Absa, assessing the change from a compliance, regulatory, FCC and conduct risks perspective against impact on people, processes and technologies. Drive and monitor internal changes required for compliance to legal and regulatory changes.
Support regulatory examinations, audits, management requests and contribute to Board or committee reporting relevant to the advisory mandate.
Maintain a clear audit trail of advice, assumptions, conditions, decisions and escalations; identify recurring issues requiring broader control or policy action.
Strategic Business Partnership and Change Initiatives
Act as a strategic compliance partner to senior business and…