Financial Crime Regulatory Specialist – FCC Policy & Regulatory Management

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.

• 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
• 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

• Relevant Qualification BCom Law, or LLB and Admitted Attorney or Advocate of the High Court of South Africa, or holder of a relevant Commerce degree (e.g., Risk Management), with demonstrable experience in financial crime compliance and risk management
• Strong knowledge of AML/CFT, sanctions, and financial crime regulatory frameworks
• Proven experience in regulatory interpretation and policy development
• Experience engaging with regulators and managing supervisory interactions
• Strong analytical capability in risk assessments and control environments
• Excellent written communication skills with experience drafting regulator-facing documents