Since 2011, Wise has had a clear mission: money without borders. Built by and for people who live global lives, we’re the fairest, easiest way to manage your money across borders.We’re just at the beginning of our story, and we’re growing at an incredible pace. We won’t stop until anyone, anywhere can send, spend and receive money wherever they are, whatever they’re doing. There’s still heaps to do, and we can’t do it alone.

We’re looking for a Compliance Officer - South Africa to strengthen our compliance team. Based in Johannesburg, SA. you will work with a growing team of multidisciplinary specialists globally (Product, Treasury, Bank Product, Security, Financial Crime) to help build world-class products in South Africa. You’ll also manage and strengthen the teams’ relationships with regulators by being the Regulator’s first point of contact, keeping everybody informed and protecting our most valuable asset - our customers. 

Responsibilities 

• Improve the Risk Management and Compliance Programme in line with our mission to be instant, convenient, transparent and eventually free.
• Maintain our regulatory licence in South Africa under the South African Reserve Bank, including:
• Regulatory liaison, reporting and filing, 
• Fit and Proper assessments 
• Monitoring and SAR reporting requirements
• Localising the compliance polices including AML policy and KYC/CDD guidelines and update as required pursuant to new developments in regulations or newly introduced regulation
• Leading our audits in South Africa
• Verify the existence of relevant controls related to the integrity and quality of the information transmitted to the IFC within the framework of the STR/SAR reports.
• Apply regular testing to assess money laundering and terrorist financing risk management and controls, as well as measures designed to reduce these risks.
• Approve opening accounts for high-risk customers as required. 
• Provide training to the company senior management and the board of directors on the AML/CFT topic. 
• Submit to the Board of Directors a quarterly report on the management of the financial crime and regulatory compliance, and advise the board with any emerging issue within the compliance program. 
• Develop systems to track and monitor our regulatory and financial crime risks, compliance with regulatory requirements and internal policies.
• Work with teams to educate them about South Africa regulatory framework requirements. 
• Take on a larger role within the compliance team on a regional level and contribute to the wider compliance global initiatives. 

This role will give you the opportunity to:

• Develop in-depth knowledge of Wise’s business and get to know many teams across the company as you liaise with them to help them understand the regulatory framework and bring together the information that our regulators need.
• Help keep compliance right at the heart of our product developments and new initiatives by horizon-scanning for new regulatory developments and sharing these with the teams.

A bit about you:

If you have a background in payments or other financial regulation, great communication and organisational skills, tons of motivation, then this role could be perfect for you!

• Theory. You are an expert in regulatory compliance and financial crime compliance.  
• Practice. You have demonstrable experience designing and challenging processes, ideally across multiple products. You have thought deeply about the Wise mission and how it intersects with compliance.
• International communicator. You are an overall excellent communicator who can articulate local regulatory requirements well to other internal stakeholders (e.g. Engineering, Product, Payment Operations, Finance teams), all of who are based internationally. Passion. You get a kick out of improving current practices and processes and can apply different compliance strategies to develop multiple compliance frameworks.
• Get the job done. You have a sense of urgency and an ability to work well under pressure, prioritising, taking responsibility and working to tight deadlines.
• Detail. You have meticulous attention to detail 
• Development. You’ve considered the challenges and development opportunities of working at a fast-growing scale-up and are looking to get into FinTech or payments compliance. 
• Language. You are fluent in English
• Location. Location in Johannesburg with willingness to travel frequently to other operational offices in Estonia and London as required 
• Appointment. Hiring of the AMLCO is subject to approval first from the Financial Surveillance Department. 

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We're people without borders — without judgement or prejudice, too. We believe teams are strongest when they are diverse, equitable and inclusive. We're proud to have a truly international team, and we celebrate our differences.

Every Wiser should feel that they can be themselves at work. Inclusive teams help us live our values and make sure every Wiser feels respected, empowered to share their contributions towards mission zero and able to progress in their careers.

Having diverse teams that reflect our diverse customer base helps us build a better product. We can be more creative and empathetic to our customer's needs and life experiences and makes sure we leave no-one behind on our journey to mission-zero.

If you want to find out more about what it's like to work at Wise visit Wise.Jobs.

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