Compliance Risk Assessment Officer VP

Role Description

SMBC Group is seeking a Vice President for the Compliance Risk Assessment team (“CRA team”) within the Compliance Department Americas Division ("CPAD"), reporting to the Executive Director, Head of Risk and Control Assessment. As a Compliance Risk Assessment (“CRA”) Vice President, this role will assist in managing a comprehensive compliance risk assessment framework to ensure the applicable regulatory compliance risks and internal controls are identified and assessed to determine the risk profile for applicable laws/regulations as applicable to respective legal entities. Note: the CRA excludes financial crimes (AML, Sanctions, Fraud, and Bribery) risks as those risks are assessed under a separate program. In addition, this role will serve as program lead for establishing and maintaining Compliance’s own Risk and Control Self-Assessment (“RCSA”), a program managed by SMBC’s Operational Risk department in which Compliance participates. The role will manage one long-term external contractor and will be supported by additional members of the CRA team, who are assigned to support this role as needed. 

The results of the CRA are utilized to drive monitoring and testing activities and to prioritize Compliance and other resources as new emergent risks are identified. This role will include conducting compliance risk assessments of certain U.S. legal entities in the role of subject matter expert (“SME”) as well as managing other SMEs outside of the CRA team in their conduct of compliance risk assessments for the legal entities they cover (primarily non-U.S. entities). The role requires leading workshops with 1st line of defense (“1LOD”) and Compliance and other 2nd line of defense (“2LOD”) subject matter experts to assess relevant compliance risks and controls for both the compliance risk assessment as well as the Compliance RCSA. 

The scope of this function will encompass SMBC Group’s Americas Division, inclusive of U.S. broker dealer and registered swap dealer; SMBC Group's wholesale and retail banking operations; U.S. and LATAM representative offices; Grand Cayman Branch; Canada Branch; Brazilian banking and trading subsidiary; and Mexican non-bank leasing affiliate. The primary focus of this role will be on the U.S. broker dealer and U.S. swap dealer. 

The candidate should have a strong functional knowledge of U.S. banking regulations (e.g., Federal Reserve) as well as banking products and services. Additionally, a risk management / internal control mindset to apply and assess risk identification / mitigation is essential.

Role Objectives

• Provide subject matter expertise and work with CRA team to conduct compliance risk assessments of various U.S. entities, particularly SMBC’s banking businesses serving institutional clients.  
• Lead meetings with business stakeholders to understand their products/services and related risks and controls. If necessary, work with business stakeholders to design action plans to address identified control gaps.  
• Assist Head of Risk and Control Assessment and CRA Program Lead in managing the CRA process, including ensuring stakeholders complete required tasks in a timely manner and that CRA team retains all required documentation.  
• Assist with the continuous enhancements to the design and methodology of the CRA framework for SMBC Americas Division. 
• Remain informed of regulatory changes and how they impact the CRA framework, including with respect to the completeness of the CRA’s risk scenarios or the level of inherent risk posed by SMBC’s current activities.  
• Learn how to utilize newly implemented CRA technology solution and provide training to subject matter experts outside the CRA team who are required to use the tool.
• Provide leadership and guidance to CRA stakeholders as to the methodology and interpreting results. 
• Present CRA results to senior 1LOD and 2LOD management, including an overview of the level of compliance risk and the strength of relevant controls.
• Develop risk dashboards designed to identifies the regulatory compliance risk profile on an ongoing basis.
• Manage the CRA team’s review and challenge responses to the RCSAs of all RCSA business units across SMBC (currently 60+ per year). 
• Manage the implementation and maintenance of Compliance’s RCSA, including semi-annual RCSA risk assessments and documentation of relevant controls.
• Support the integration of the CRA results with the activities of the Compliance Department, including with respect to documenting key controls as well as driving monitoring and testing plans.

Qualifications and Skills

• Bachelor’s Degree required; JD or MBA a strong plus (but not required).
• Minimum of 10 years of prior regulatory, compliance, and/or risk management experience.
• Experience conducting Compliance Risk Assessments either in role of bank compliance subject matter expert or as a member of a CRA team.  
• Experience working in a Compliance Advisory role covering banking products/services (lending, deposits) is a strong plus (but not required).  
• Experience in a Compliance Testing or Audit role focused on banking products/services (lending, deposits) is a strong plus (but not required).
• Strong knowledge of U.S. banking regulations (FRB, OCC, FDIC, CFPB).
• Strong interpersonal and communications skills (written and verbal) to successfully interface with all levels of management and maintain solid working relationships in a collaborative group environment. 
• Demonstrated track record of successfully managing projects.
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and re-prioritize workloads as necessary.
• Strong analytical skills to understand project goals and interpret them into meaningful action.
• Ability to analyze results and identify trends / forecasting using resultant data and other available metrics (e.g., KPI, KRIs, etc.) while promoting measures to mitigate regulatory compliance risk.

Additional Requirements

D&I Commitment

Responsible for fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion, holding leaders accountable for creating an inclusive environment through awareness and practice of equity in recruiting, developing, and promoting diverse talent.

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