Risk and Compliance Manager at ASA International (Rwanda) Plc

Position title: Risk and Compliance Manager

Date: 12^th April 2024

Work base: Head Office

Reporting to:  Managing Director

Expected starting date: Any time

Employment Contract type: Open-ended contract.

About the ASA International (Rwanda) Plc:

ASA International (Rwanda) Plc (subsequently referred to as “ASA Rwanda”) is a for-profit, deposit taking Microfinance Institution licensed by National Bank of Rwanda and incorporated under The Companies Act, No.103495622 in Rwanda in 2014 and started operations in 2016, currently serving small business in 30 branches across the country. ASA Rwanda is a subsidiary of ASA International listed on London Stock Exchange, one of the world’s largest international Microfinance institutions in the world operating in 13 countries in Africa and Asia.

Vision: Reduce poverty by improving the lives of the underprivileged with a key focus on female entrepreneurs.

Mission: We have a strong commitment to financial inclusion and socioeconomic progress.

Objective: Providing Microfinance loans for business purpose to low-income entrepreneurs with an objective of improving financial inclusion and realize socioeconomic progress. Our loans provide an alternative to low income entrepreneurs without access to credit from traditional banks. We provide these loans using the ASA Model. 

Function summary

As a financial company and ASA international (Rwanda) plc is mostly engaged to work for the low income people of the country and as long as there is a possibility of financial irregularities in the activities, the company created a department/position to work to prevent any sorts of misappropriation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties on Risk Management

1. Analyze various risks that could impact the company, including credit risk, operational risk, liquidity risk, market risk, regulatory compliance risk and other emerging risks.
2. Collaborate with different departments and conduct risk assessments to identify potential vulnerabilities and areas of concern.
3. Implement a comprehensive risk management framework in alignment with industry best practices and regulatory guidelines.
4. Prepare regular risk reports for management and the board of directors, highlighting key risk metrics and trends. Risk reports will include risk register, key risks report, KRI report, KPI report, risk appetite report, climate risk report among others.
5. Good understanding of financial ratio is desired for financial ratio analysis on Excel.
6. Present risk-related findings and recommendations to the management team and board as needed.
7. Walkthrough business process and do control testing to see if the three lines of defense is working efficiently.
8. Stay up-to-date with relevant regulatory requirements and industry standards on risk management in the company and ensure compliance.
9. Conduct training sessions for the company’s staff on risk awareness and risk management practices.
10. Foster a risk-aware culture within the organization and promote a proactive approach to risk identification and mitigation.
11. Develop and maintain contingency plans to address potential crisis situations and ensure business continuity in times of heightened risk.

Duties on Compliance

1. Creating and implementing an effective compliance program
2. Ensuring that the compliance program effectively prevents and/or detects violation of law, regulations, organization policies, or the code of conduct
3. Ensuring that the internal controls are capable of preventing and detecting significant instances or patterns of illegal, unethical, or improper conduct by employees, agents, contractors, or others working with the organization
4. Ensuring that the system has effective mechanisms to reasonably determine that persons either promoted to or hired in management and certain other sensitive and/or responsible positions (to be designated) do not have a tendency to violate laws and regulations or engage in improper or unethical conduct in their designated areas of responsibility
5. Providing input and/or direction to human resources policies and procedures and the performance appraisal and incentive programs to ensure that improper conduct is discouraged and that support of any conformity with the compliance program is part of any performance evaluation process for all employees
6. Developing productive working relationships with all levels of management
7. Reporting on a regular basis to the compliance committee on matters involving the compliance program. Additionally, the compliance Manager at his or her discretion is expected to regularly report issues to the Managing Director and board of directors
8. Working with administrative leadership to provide adequate information to staff to ensure that they have the requisite information and knowledge of regulatory issues and requirements to carry out their responsibilities in a lawful and ethical manner
9. Developing and implementing, upon an approval by executive management and the board of directors, an annual review of an update to the compliance plan
10. Review our current compliance policies and procedures to identify areas of improvement
11. Keeping up to date with any regulatory or statutory changes and policies that might affect the organization
12. Ensuring that all company policies are up to date and are approved
13. Draft new and update existing internal risk and compliance policies so that they match industry standards
14. Conduct regular internal audits to ensure compliance procedures are followed across the organization
15. Implementing processes or systems to help ensure good management of the organization or compliance with legislation
16. Maintaining records of compliance practices
17. Organize workshops and training sessions to educate and update employees on the organization’s compliance policies, regulations, and processes
18. Prepare Compliance reports on monthly, quarterly and annually basis and share tem to Group level.
19. Liaison with Group Compliance Department through reporting and correspondences, to ensure all compliance issues have been covered appropriately.
20. Conduct compliance health checks in all departments to observe that all regulatory issues and internal company policies have been implemented
21. Liaison with Legal Department to ensure compliance of management committee minutes and Board strategic decisions are achieved.
22. Prepare prudential and liquidity ratio report on quarterly and annually basis
23. Presenting periodic and annual reports on the compliance program to the board of directors
24. Any other assignment may be provided by immediate supervisor.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Accounting or a related field
• Having a professional qualification will be an advantage.

Requirements – Skills, Knowledge, Abilities – for Head of Internal Audit

• Being Rwandan by nationality;
• 5 years of proven working experience in risk management, compliance management, audit functions or accounting/finance. Work experience in financial sector will be an advantage.
• 2 years in a managerial or supervisory role is desired.
• In-depth understanding of local regulations relevant to our industry.
• Proficiency in MS Office including Excel and Power Point.
• Age between 30 and 40 years’ old.
• Be ready to work or travel anywhere in the country where ASA International (Rwanda) Plc has branches;
• Willing to work under pressure and ready to complete necessary duties on time

Salary & Benefits:

• Competitive salary
• In-house Medical Insurance covering him/her and legal dependents as company policy
• Communication allowances as per company policy
• Monitoring allowance as per company policy
• Annual Salary Increment as per company policy
• Festival Allowance as per company policy

Application process

Cover Letter included the candidate’s expected salary; Detailed CV; copy of Degree; Work certificates from previous employers; any other document that may prove a candidate’s competency to the post; Copy of ID Card.

Applications should be addressed to the Managing Director of ASA International (RWANDA) Plc located in KIGALI City, GASABO District, Plot No. – 95, NTORA Village, KG 784 St. RUHANGO Cell, Gisozi Sector, Kigali, Rwanda

Online Application to be sent to asarecruitment@asarwanda.rw with subject line mentioning Risk and Compliance Manager. Submission of Application should be before 25^th April 2024 at 5:00 PM. Please note that only candidates with the needed qualifications and relevant experience will be shortlisted. If you do not hear from us in 2 weeks after the deadline, know that you are not meeting our requirements.

ASA International aims to attract and select a diverse workforce, ensuring equal opportunity to everyone, irrespective of race, age, gender, class, ethnicity, disability, location, and religion. Qualified women are particularly encouraged to apply.

Done at Kigali on 12^th April 2024

Signed and approved by:

Md. Jamilur Rahman Chowdhury

Managing Director,

ASA International (Rwanda) Plc