Head of Audit: Credit Risk and Sustainability Risk

Empowering Africa’s tomorrow, together one story at a time.
- 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

The incumbent will support the Audit Executive in defining the risk profile for Credit Risk and Sustainability Risk and use this to define and manage the audit plan. Significant experience in the financial services industry, particularly in roles focused on credit risk and responsibility risk.

Job Description

The Head of Audit: Credit Risk and Sustainability Risk reports into the Head of Internal Audit: Function Risk.

The incumbent will:

- Support the Audit Executive in defining the risk profile for Credit Risk and Sustainability Risk and use this to define and manage the audit plan.
- Guide, review and approve the work carried out on audit assignments in order to ensure that the scope of the work is appropriate, that risks and controls are correctly identified and assessed and that the assignments are carried out in accordance with the audit methodology.
- Assign audit and line management responsibilities, direction and guidance to direct reports while maintaining an in-depth knowledge of activities in each area
- Deliver a view on the effectiveness and adequacy of risk management and controls to the Chief Internal Auditor and executive management (Strategy and Sustainability), notably through contributions to committee reporting and audit reports, and proposing mitigating actions.
- Play a proactive part in supporting the definition of risk profiles, working effectively with colleagues across Internal Audit and
- Ensure that the Audit Plan is effective, including the best use of resources.

Key to the role are the below additional capabilities required for success:

- Contributing commentary and information for Absa Internal Audit reporting.
- Evaluation of risk appetite, escalation and reporting of issues and decisions taken by the risk management function.
- The adequacy of risk management systems and processes for identifying, measuring, assessing, controlling, mitigating, responding to, and reporting on all the risks resulting from the bank’s activities.
- The integrity of the risk management information systems, including the accuracy, reliability and completeness of the data used.
- The approval and maintenance of risk models including verification of the consistency, timeliness, independence and reliability of data sources used in such models.
- The provisions of the regulatory framework and in particular the bank’s system for identifying and measuring its regulatory capital and assessing the adequacy of its capital resources in relation to the bank’s risk exposures and established minimum ratios.
- Management’s process for stress testing its capital levels, taking into account the frequency of such exercises, their purpose (e.g., internal monitoring vs. regulator imposed), the reasonableness of scenarios and the underlying assumptions employed, and the reliability of the models used.
- The effectiveness of the process by which the risk and reporting functions interact to produce timely, accurate, reliable and relevant reports for both internal management and the supervisor.
- The accuracy of reports which record the bank’s calculation of its capital resources, requirements and ratios.
- Banks compliances with the Banks Act (Basel Regulatory Frameworks).
- Public disclosures intended to facilitate transparency and market discipline such as the Pillar 3 disclosures and the reporting of regulatory matters in the bank’s public reports.

Experience
- Experience in Audit: At least 12 years of experience in audit and consulting, including internal audit and risk management roles.
- Industry Experience: Significant experience in the financial services industry, particularly in roles focused on credit risk and responsibility risk.
- Leadership Experience: Proven track record of leading audit teams and managing complex audit projects.
- Risk Management: Extensive experience in identifying, assessing, and managing credit and responsibility risks.

Qualifications (minimum qualifications)
- Quants: Honours degree within the following academic areas is considered adequate to equip graduates with quantitative expertise needed to solve practical problems within the financial services:

- Mathematics
- Mathematical Statistics
- Physics/Engineering
- Actuarial Science
- Computer Science (when combined with either Mathematics or Mathematical Statistics)
- Honours degree in finance, accounting or Risk Management.

Education

Postgraduate Degrees and Professional Qualifications: Financial Sciences (required), Postgraduate Degrees and Professional Qualifications: Statistics (required)
- Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as