The Head of Risk Management provides strategic leadership for the identification, assessment, measurement, monitoring and mitigation of all material risks facing the Bank. The role is responsible for designing, implementing and sustaining an enterprise-wide risk management framework that is aligned with the Bank’s strategy and risk appetite, the CBN Guidelines for the Licensing and Regulation of Payment Service Banks, the CBN Risk-Based Supervision framework, ISO 31000 and COSO ERM principles, and other applicable regulatory requirements. The Head of Risk Management oversees credit and counterparty, liquidity, market, operational, technology, cyber, fraud, outsourcing, third-party, agent network and reputational risks, provides independent risk oversight and challenge to the business, advises the Board and Executive Management on the Bank’s risk profile, and promotes a strong risk culture across the Bank.
- Develop, implement and periodically review the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Framework, Risk Appetite Statement, risk tolerance limits and risk policies for Board Risk Management Committee approval.
- Establish and maintain the Bank’s risk governance structure, risk taxonomy and enterprise risk register covering strategic, operational, liquidity, market, counterparty, technology, cyber, fraud, compliance, reputational, outsourcing and third-party risks.
- Lead risk and control self-assessments across business units, products and processes, and define, monitor and report Key Risk Indicators (KRIs) against approved limits.
- Provide independent risk review and sign-off on new products, services, channels, partnerships, projects and significant changes before launch.
- Oversee operational risk management, including loss and incident reporting, root-cause analysis and timely remediation of control gaps.
- Oversee liquidity, market, interest rate and counterparty risk arising from investments in Federal Government securities and placements with financial institutions, including limits monitoring and stress testing.
- Work with Information Technology and Information Security to oversee technology, cyber and information security risk across digital banking, mobile wallet, USSD, card and agent banking platforms.
- Direct fraud risk management, including fraud risk assessments, early-warning indicators, monitoring of fraud and forgery incidents and effectiveness of preventive controls.
- Establish and oversee outsourcing, vendor, third-party and agent network risk assessment and ongoing monitoring programmes.
- Oversee the Business Continuity Management (BCM) and Disaster Recovery framework, including business impact analysis, testing and reporting.
- Develop and conduct stress testing and scenario analysis, and coordinate capital adequacy, liquidity assessment and recovery planning in line with regulatory requirements.
- Present quarterly and ad-hoc risk reports to the Board Risk Management Committee, the Board and Executive Management, and escalate limit breaches and emerging risks promptly.
- Ensure compliance with CBN, NDIC, NDPA, BOFIA and other applicable laws and regulations on risk management, and ensure accurate and timely regulatory risk returns.
- Coordinate combined assurance activities with Internal Audit, Compliance, External Auditors and Regulators, and track closure of risk-related audit and examination findings.
- Champion a strong risk culture through risk awareness, training and communication across the Bank.
- Drive the use of risk analytics, automation and Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) tools to enhance risk measurement, monitoring and early-warning capabilities.
- Develop and manage the Risk Management budget and ensure efficient utilisation of resources.
- Lead succession planning, staff development, mentoring and certification programmes within Risk Management.
- Safeguard confidentiality and ensure compliance with data protection and information security requirements.
Requirements
The ideal candidate should possess:
- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics, Statistics, Mathematics, Engineering, Business Administration, Information Systems or a related discipline.
- Master’s degree in a relevant discipline will be an added advantage.
- Professional certification such as FRM, PRM, CERA, CRISC, ACA, ACCA, CFA, CISA, CISM or equivalent is required.
- Minimum of ten (10) years’ Risk Management experience, including at least five (5) years in a senior risk leadership role within a Commercial Bank, Payment Service Bank, Microfinance Bank, Fintech or other regulated financial institution.
- Demonstrated experience in enterprise risk management, operational and technology risk, regulatory risk reporting, stress testing and Board reporting.
