Change Lead – Credit Risk Regulatory Reporting & Analytics at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Summary

To support the Head: Credit Risk Regulatory Reporting & Analytics and to establish and operate a change management capability aligned to best practice. This includes:
  Preparing and implementing a change management strategy. 

•   Designing, coordinating and enhancing the function’s operating model and capabilities to enable the delivery of its strategic objectives in a sustainable manner. 
•   Supporting the function to identify, scope and resource change management initiatives including preparation of business cases.
•  Oversee credit risk regulatory change programs in response to new or revised regulations.
•  Creating a governance and operational framework within which to execute change management initiatives. 
•  Apply leading practice where possible and leveraging existing solutions across Absa Group to enhance the function’s performance and operational efficiency.
•  Reviewing and consolidating the function’s change requirements to help prioritise delivery ensuring optimal benefit realisation and return on investment.
•  Understanding, leveraging and contributing to an integrated Finance and Risk data, process and reporting environment with a sustainable architecture.
•  Identifying and collaborating with key change management and infrastructure partners across Business, Finance, Risk and IT.
•  Ensuring solutions are compliant with strategic architectural design guidelines, internal policies and regulatory requirements.
•  Quantifying and allocating resources to ensure delivery of key change milestones on time and within budget.
•  Coordinating and engaging with programme / project managers and accountable executives on project planning, monitoring and embedment.
•  Preparing and presenting business cases and progress updates to all relevant change governance forums.

Job Description

Accountability: Change Management

• Work closely with project managers to plan the implementation and to ensure these plans are documented and approved.
• Formulate the project approach translating the strategy into practical implementation with input from the project managers, IT developers and business users.
• Escalate issues to function management and project steering committees as appropriate in conjunction with the project manager.
• Formulation of options to problemsolve specific project problems and presentation of these to relevant decisionmakers.
• Provide subject matter expertise to project team members when required.
• Ensure projects operate within agreed principles and leverage integrated solutions across Finance, Business and Risk, where possible.
• Work closely with business representatives to accurately determine and prioritise business requirements.
• Work closely with IT development teams in order to communicate requirements appropriately.
• Ensure test plans are complete and appropriate and properly executed.
• Ensure post implementation support is provided to end users to ensure there is successful and sustainable embedment into businessasusual with complete benefit realisation.
• Ensure all issues and dependencies are appropriately recorded, managed and monitored.
• Ensure all requirements are documents and understood by relevant business and IT teams.
• Liaise with relevant business stakeholders and line managers in order to provide feedback on progress, issues and changes.
• Provide regular feedback to functional management on progress, issues, resourcing levels, project manager and IT performance.
• Ensure project related documentation is created and retained for historical reference.
• Ensure appropriate guidelines and training are provided to the change teams.

Accountability: Regulatory Change

• Accountable for assessing the impact of new / proposed / changing regulations relevant to credit risk regulatory reporting.
• Driving credit regulatory change across the BU regulatory reporting teams to ensure continuous compliance to relevant regulations.
• Coordinate implementation efforts with stakeholders within business and across functions.
• Advise on the impacts of regulations on Credit Risk Regulatory reporting in governance and project forums.
• Manage the Group Credit Risk’s interaction with support functions as needed to support Credit Risk regulatory requirements.
• Define Credit Risk Regulatory Reporting data requirements to support execution process in alignment to BCBS239.
• Assist with design and implementation of a robust operating model that ensures ongoing compliance to policy and BCBS239 regulation.
• Take overall responsibility for the direction and leadership of function in respect of credit risk regulatory change.
• Advise senior management and promote understanding of changes in regulations related to credit risk, counterparty credit risk, equity risk in the banking book, securitisation risk and capital adequacy relating to regulations prescribed by Banks Act.
• To provide guidance and advise to both external and internal auditors on Credit Risk regulatory change initiatives.
• Assisting other departments on the interpretation and application of the Prudential Authority  rules applicable to Credit Risk.

Accountability:  Stakeholder Management

• Lead by example in building strong internal and external relationships, displaying excellent abilities to initiate strategic dialogue and listen, advice, influence, negotiate and present at different levels.
• Establish and nurture influential relationships with a wide network across the organisation in order to identify synergies and optimally leverage relationships, knowledge, services and resources to provide superior solutions.
• Develop relationships with key stakeholders who are based in geographies outside South Africa through regular engagement and knowledge sharing.
• Interact with end users / SMEs to determine their requirements and document the problem statements and success criteria.
• Input into the project stakeholder management process and assistance with execution of stakeholder management plans.
• Setup and chairing of working groups where appropriate.
• Ensure key business stakeholders and end users understand our approach to the project or workstream.
• Manage the relationship with the appropriate IT/GSO/MRPC areas to ensure ongoing delivery.

Accountability: People Management

• Provide clear direction to team members on the strategic plan and key focus areas and ensure their understanding and buyin.
• Develop a culture of proactive compliance, risk management and innovation within the team and the function as a whole.
• Proactively contribute to a progressive team environment by positively driving teamwork and change.
• Promote knowledge transfer, personal development activities and ongoing learning, and collaboration within the team.
• Determine and analyse development needs for the team and ensure that identified training requirements are budgeted for and executed. 
• Identify and escalate resourcing needs in the team to functional management.
• Critically assess vendor service offerings, document, onboard and supervise the work of consultants where their input is necessary.
• Ensure the team members display valuesaligned behaviour at all times.
• Maintaining own knowledge on best industry practice and imparting this on the team members.
• Mentor and develop junior staff while identifying future talent.
• Delivery of training where there are changes to the best practice change execution principles.

Education

• Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (Required)