Onboarding Operational Risk Manager in Newport, Wales

Location: Cardiff – Hybrid/2 days in the office

Salary: £60K – £70K + Benefits + Bonus

Exciting opportunity for experienced Team leader to join this leading British multinational financial services company and one of the world's largest investment managers who specialize in pensions, annuities, life insurance, and equity release.

Purpose of the role: Lead, motivate and develop a team of 8 responsible for the onboarding process of all new firms, and their advisers for all Intermediary Sales Channels by improving, identifying, and assessing risk management processes at the onboarding stage, whilst adhering to FCA regulations and internal compliance and operational standards. Where necessary make referral recommendations to the business divisions in relation to whether an Intermediary Firm should be appointed, or their terms adjusted to reflect the accepted risk.

Principle Accountabilities:

• Onboarding Risk: Manage risk management processes at agency onboarding by providing a strong robust control framework. Perform checks to ensure accuracy of financial information/business intelligence gathered and make recommendations on suitable outcomes. Work with business management to ensure onboarding risk strategies are identified and meet business requirements and adhere to risk appetite.
• Operational Risk: Review, evaluate, develop, implement, maintain, and verify effectiveness of internal and business controls for onboarding processes, systems, and reports in accordance with internal auditing, compliance, regulatory and operational standards. Ensure team are fully compliant with legal and regulatory requirements.
• Management: Manage, motivate a high performing team through strong leadership and direction, whilst meeting all key performance targets. Act as a role model by fully understanding the team’s role, strengths, development areas and responsibilities to identify, challenge processes, look for solutions to empower the team to drive continual improvements to mitigate risk exposure along with improving the customer experience.
• Operational Support: Overseeing quality checks, complaint handling, breach reporting, escalation, and resolution and to ensure the work the team completes is of the highest standard with accuracy and attention to detail a key driver. Do this by analysing MI on service, capacity planning, individual capability, customer processes and automation, so that the team work effectively and efficiently, and a cost-effective quality service is delivered to the customer, with prompt resolution of issues and required change.
• Relationship Management: Work collaboratively with business partners/key stakeholders to strengthen business partnering links to allow for business decisions to be prompt and effective. Attendance at required Commercial, Risk, Compliance working groups providing feedback on output and issues raised. Continue to build and maintain strong external relationships with key providers and distributors.
• Projects/Change: Take a lead role on internal projects, compliance or risk management projects and initiatives relating to AR such that business issues are identified, and tools and processes developed and implemented to mitigate risks and issues in the future.
• Treating Customers Fairly: Ensure that the appropriate processes and systems are in place to provide support to the business divisions so that customers are treated fairly in line with the Customer Experience and TCF policy.
• People Management: To manage the team in accordance with the Company’s policies and procedures, including the Partnership Agreement, so that the team’s business objectives are achieved consistently.

Qualifications, Knowledge & skills:

• Qualifications: Business Degree required and ability to demonstrate the knowledge required to perform the role. It is anticipated that the role holder will have a wide breadth of proven financial services experience along with strong regulatory and legislative governance.
• Knowledge: Depth of knowledge (from internal or external experience) to be able to acquire and share best practice with a good understanding of the financial services market in the UK. A good understanding of process integrity and task dependency. Strong understanding of FCA regulatory framework, its principles, authorisations, and permissions and conduct rules, GDPR principles, TCF, financial crime, money laundering and complaints procedures along with awareness of business risk appetites. Sound Industry & business knowledge and systems - to support the onboarding governance and profiling of firms and individuals, Lexis Nexis, Dun & Bradstreet, ID&V, land registry charges, credit reports along with good level of understanding of operational processes across the divisions that support onboarding of intermediaries. Good knowledge of bespoke contracts, TOBA’s, to support business divisions on contractual position for newly onboarding intermediary firms/Directors.
• Skills: Detailed understanding of Intermediary hierarchies, contractual positions, onboarding governance along with awareness of business understanding across all divisions to support business change programmes. Good knowledge of business divisions internal processes and controls. Team management practices including business improvement, workforce management and risk management.