Shari’ah Scholar

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- With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group.Job Summary

Support the Shari’ah department to oversee the development and implementation of Shari'ah-compliant products and services, ensuring compliance with Islamic principles and regulations as approved by the Shari’ah Supervisory Committee (SCC). Provide expert advice and guidance to internal stakeholders on matters related to Shari'ah compliance. This is a crucial role within Absa Islamic Banking, requiring strong knowledge of Shari'ah principles and exceptional people management skills.

**Job Description**:
Product
- Support the product teams to identify and recommend key Shari'ah structures for Islamic Banking products which are in line with Absa Islamic Banking’s financial services strategy and which will optimize existing customer performance.
- Provide guidance on Shari'ah compliance matters to various departments, including product development, risk & compliance, IT and legal.
- Act as the entry point between Absa and the SSC as and when required.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams and the Shari’ah Supervisory Committee (SSC) to design, review, and approve new products, services, contracts, agreements and other customer-facing documents to ensure they align with Shari'ah principles.
- Assist and provide input to Learning and Development (L&D) on the development of training material for new and existing products.
- Perform Islamic Banking product training internally to Absa stakeholders

Governance
- Develop and maintain a robust governance framework for Shari'ah compliance within Absa Islamic Banking, ensuring adherence to Islamic principles and regulatory guidelines.
- Ensure that all Shari’ah product certificates are in place and regularly updated.
- Ensure post implementation reviews of new Islamic products that are launched.
- Ensure that regular Shari’ah audits and reviews of existing processes, products, and transactions takes place, and ensure that these are presented to the SSC at the SSC meetings. Ensure that all findings are clearly articulated, and ensure all action items are attended to before their due date.
- Ensure compliance (where required) with industry standards such as AAOIFI and IFSB
- Ensure that the necessary Service Level Agreements are in place.
- Ensure that all governance relating to the Shari'ah Committee are in place and updated, including their Contractor Agreements, and the Terms of Reference.
- Continuously review the Absa Islamic Banking treasury pool and ensure conformance to Shari’ah principles
- Review the monthly profit generation process, profit share calculation and provide Shari’ah sign-off
- Review and obtain SSC approval for annual profit share distribution

Delivery Management
- Support the Shari’ah department to achieve departmental goals and objectives, and ensuring that these are fulfilled.
- Review and provide input into the Implementation plan for the launch of new products
- Prepare for the quarterly Shari’ah Committee meetings by managing to the following:

- ensuring that the Meeting Packs are ready and distributed to members before the meeting;
- travel arrangements
- booking of the meeting room

Stakeholder Engagement
- Provide Shari’ah training to Absa colleagues to ensure a thorough understanding of Islamic products and Shari'ah compliance requirements.
- Attend to and resolve customer queries and concerns.
- Foster and maintain relationships with external Shari'ah scholars, advisors, and regulatory bodies such as AAOIFI and IFSB
- Represent Absa Islamic Banking at external forums, conferences, and events related to Shari'ah compliance and contribute to industry discussions.
- Provide educational training on Islamic finance to the public

Education

Bachelor's Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (required)
- Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as advertised_