Assessment & Design Senior Group Manager

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Job Overview

The Senior Group Manager, Risk & Control Design for UAE Wealth Management is a critical leadership role responsible for the holistic design, implementation, and ongoing oversight of robust risk and control frameworks across all facets of Citigroup's Private Bank (CPB) and Consumer Group (CG) wealth businesses in the UAE. This seasoned professional will strategically enhance the control environment, covering all products (investment, deposit, lending, insurance) and channels (branch, digital), ensuring comprehensive adherence to internal policies and the evolving regulatory landscape in the UAE.

This role demands a deep understanding of wealth management operations, risk management principles, and the specific control requirements associated with various products and distribution channels. The incumbent will play a pivotal role in driving regulatory change management, overseeing audit and examination readiness, and embedding strong sales practices throughout the organization. Success in this role requires exceptional communication, negotiation, and influencing skills to collaborate effectively with senior stakeholders across multiple functions and geographies.

Furthermore, this role will have matrix reporting lines from the Risk and Control Leads dedicated to the Operations, Deposit & Lending, and Investment & Insurance product teams.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Control Framework & Design:

• Holistic Control Design: Lead the design, implementation, and continuous enhancement of the end-to-end risk and control framework for the CG/CPC UAE Wealth business, encompassing all client segments, products, and channels.
• Product-Specific Controls: Develop and embed robust controls specific to investment & insurance products (e.g., suitability and disclosures, supervision and surveillance, sales practices, product governance, RDIP compliance, SCA and local regulatory compliance), deposit products (e.g., account opening, branch controls, sales practices), and lending products (e.g., product designs, sales practices) within the UAE wealth context.
• Channel-Specific Controls: Design and implement effective controls tailored for branch operations (e.g., cash handling, physical security, sales process adherence, ATM controls) and digital platforms (e.g., cybersecurity, data privacy, authentication, digital sales journeys, local regulatory requirements).
• Control Uplift Program: Drive and contribute significantly to the execution of enhancements identified through the firm's control uplift programs, ensuring sustainable improvements to the control environment.

Regulatory Compliance & Oversight:

• Regulatory Change Management: Proactively work with ICRM to interpret, and assess the impact of new and evolving regulations, industry standards, and best practices relevant to UAE wealth management. Lead the design and implementation of necessary control enhancements to ensure full compliance across all products, channels, etc., for UAE CG/CPC.
• Exams & Audits Management: Act as a primary point of contact and lead the preparation for, and coordination of all regulatory examinations, internal audits, and external reviews pertaining to the UAE wealth business. Ensure timely and effective remediation of all identified findings and recommendations.
• Control Testing: Oversee or directly contribute to the design and execution of comprehensive control testing programs, including independent validation, to confirm the effectiveness and efficiency of controls across the UAE CG/CPC Wealth business.

Sales Practices & Ethical Conduct:

• Sales Practice Enhancement: Design, implement, and monitor controls specifically aimed at fostering and enforcing strong, ethical sales practices across the entire organization, ensuring client-centricity, suitability, and transparency in all client interactions.
• Training & Awareness: Collaborate with learning and development teams to ensure adequate training programs are in place to embed control requirements and ethical sales practices across front-line and support functions.

Risk Assessment & Management:

• Risk Identification & Assessment: Lead ongoing risk assessments to identify emerging risks, control gaps, and areas for improvement within the UAE CG/CPC Wealth business, considering market dynamics, technological advancements, and geopolitical factors.
• Issue Management: Direct the identification, assessment, and timely resolution of control issues, ensuring root cause analysis and effective corrective actions are implemented.  Track all issues remediation impacting UAE CG/CPC Wealth business ensuring on time remediation. 
• MCA:  Drive robust MCA program with comprehensive control design and testing of key risks and local regulations; focused on automation of controls. 
• Reporting: Direct the communication of risk and control status, issues, and mitigation strategies to all relevant stakeholders, including senior management and governance forums on a timely basis.

Escalations, Reporting and Governance:

• Timely Escalation & Regulatory Reporting: Establish and enforce robust processes to ensure that all risk and control matters warranting escalation within the UAE CG/CPC business are identified and escalated on time. Furthermore, ensure that all such escalations qualifying for local regulatory reporting are accurately and promptly reported to the relevant authorities, in close consultation with Independent Compliance Risk Management (ICRM).
• Governance:  Guarantee comprehensive coverage and timely presentation of these escalations across various governance forums, including but not limited to, BRCF, CCC, and BRCC.

Leadership & Stakeholder Management:

• Strategic Influence: Operate as a strategic professional, closely following latest trends in risk and control and adapting them for application within the UAE wealth business.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Lead the facilitation, coordination, and arbitration of complex cross-functional macro-level topics within/across control programs, partnering with Business Heads, Product Managers, Operations, Technology, Legal, and Compliance.  This also includes partnering with control capabilities teams such as MCA, Issue Management, and the Central Testing Unit to drive control uplift and proactive issue management.
• Team Leadership: Manage multiple teams, including resource management, allocation of work, performance evaluation, and career development. This includes providing guidance and oversight to the Risk and Control Leads for the Deposit & Lending and Investment & Insurance product teams, who will matrix report into this role.
• Policy & Procedure Development: Ensure control requirements are translated into clear, concise, and actionable policies, procedures, and process documentation.
• Budget & Resources: Ensure staffing of the unit is adequate, exercise shared responsibility for budget management, policy formulation, and planning for control-related initiatives.

Qualifications & Experience

• Experience: 10+ years of progressive experience in risk management, control design, compliance, audit, or a related field within the financial services industry, with a significant focus on wealth management

• Domain Expertise: Extensive and demonstrable knowledge of the UAE regulatory landscape for financial institutions, particularly pertaining to wealth management.
• Deep understanding and practical experience in designing and implementing controls for:
• Branch operations and client interaction channels.
• Investment products (e.g., mutual funds, structured products, equities, fixed income), insurance products, and associated sales practices.
• Deposit and lending products and their end-to-end sales and product lifecycle controls.
• Digital banking channels, including cybersecurity, data privacy, and digital sales controls.

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field. Master's degree or relevant professional certifications (e.g., FRM, CPA, CIA, CAMS) are highly desirable.

Skills:

• Excellent communication, negotiation, and influencing skills, with the ability to engage and build consensus with senior management and diverse stakeholders.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities, with an ability to translate complex regulatory requirements into practical control solutions.
• Proven leadership skills with experience in managing and developing high-performing teams.
• Ability to work independently, manage multiple priorities, and thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced international environment.
• Demonstrated ability to assess risk appropriately when making business decisions, safeguarding the firm's reputation and assets, and ensuring compliance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations.

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Job Family Group:

Controls Governance & Oversight

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Job Family:

Control Design

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Time Type:

Full time

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Most Relevant Skills

Analytical Thinking, Business Insights, Constructive Debate, Controls Lifecycle, Digital Skills (Including AI), Policy, Procedure, and Regulation, Process Design, Program Management, Risk Management Lifecycle, Stakeholder Management.

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Other Relevant Skills

For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter.

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