Company Profile

Advans is a leading microfinance group established in 2005. Advans mission is to respond to the need for financial services of small businesses and other populations who have ill-adapted, limited or no access to formal financial services. The Advans Group currently spans nine countries: Cambodia, Cameroon, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Pakistan, Nigeria, Tunisia and Myanmar. As at end October 2019, the group served more than 1,000,000 clients and employed more than 7,300 staff. Headquartered in Luxembourg with support services in Paris, the group’s shareholders are EIB, KfW, FMO, CDC Group plc, FISEA (AFD Group) and IFC.

Advans Ghana, subsidiary of the international microfinance group Advans, started its activities in 2008. The institution offers a full range of adapted financial products and services to micro, small and medium sized enterprises in Ghana. The institution serves more than 64,000 clients through a network of 20 points of sale and over 650 employees.

Job Description

Do you want to work in an international environment with a focus on developing countries? Are you a highly committed and result-oriented person, with excellent communication and organizational skills? Are you the kind who takes initiative and is enthusiastic? Do you have an eye for details, with the exposure to monitor risk? Then Advans has the position for you! In joining the Risk and Compliance Team as an Operational Risk Analyst.

What will your role be?
Reporting to the Chief Risk Officer: The operational Risk Analyst is responsible for carrying out reviews and evaluating new/revised processes to ensure the appropriate risk management oversight and infrastructure exist to measure, monitor, and control such risks. He/She will support the completion of business unit-specific risk/control self-assessments, annual assessment reviews, and scenario analysis exercises, as well as analyzing the root causes of operational exceptions and assisting in the development and completion of risk mitigation strategies. He/She will provide support to the Chief Risk Officer in the implementation of the Operational Risk Management Framework and monitoring of the institution’s risk appetite.

MAJOR TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Operational Risk Analysis

• Work with business units to understand business drivers, concerns, and future and offer support to mitigate risk.
• Support in the completion of business unit-specific risk/control self-assessments, annual assessment reviews, and scenario analysis exercises, as well as analyzing the root causes of operational exceptions and assisting in the development and completion of risk mitigation strategies.
• Continually review processes and procedures to ascertain the adequacy of controls and advise management on existing risks.
• Monitor to ensure key risk indicators are in place and provide monthly reports.
• Update and maintain all operational risk management systems, models, procedures, and tools.
• Develop control enhancements to ensure that any known risks are controlled within acceptable boundaries and consistent standards.
• Monitor and track operational risk issues regularly.
• Conduct presentations and workshop sessions on risk identification and mitigation.
• Gather operational risk-related data from internal or external resources and conduct statistical analyses to quantify risk.
• Management of incidents including assessment, reporting analysis, and remediation
• Investigate control breaches and recommend enhancement to existing policies to mitigate risk.
• Identify, manage, strengthen, and alert management on all key inherent risks and assist in designing effective controls to mitigate such risks.
• Work together with another organizational line of defense (i.e. Compliance, Internal Audit, etc.)

OTHER ASSIGNMENTS

• Any other assignment assigned by the Head of the Department
• The Operational Risk Analyst assumes responsibility for the identification and escalation of routine and emerging operational risks through the execution of operational risk management framework procedures.
• He/She communicates and highlights risk profiles for management review.
• He also recommends and executes activities to manage and respond to risks within the organization.
• He facilitates operational units' adherence to operational risk management policies and frameworks.

CHALLENGES

Therefore, the challenges include:

• The capacity to balance the relevant theoretical “data” approach with a thorough understanding of the business implications and process.
• In this regard, the recruit must spend some time in the branch to familiarize him/herself with our activities otherwise his/her work will be completely disconnected from reality.
• Ability to translate potentially complicated results into useful, understandable feedback for “non-technical” users

Required Skills or Experience

You must have a:

• A good first Degree in any field, plus Professional Qualification in Banking (ACIB).

Required Work Experience

• At least 3 years experience as an Operational Risk Analyst/Officer, Internal Control/Audit Officer/ Process Development Officer
• Familiarity with process adequacy and efficiency testing, knowledge of risk management frameworks like COSP/COSO.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to collect, organize, analyze, and disseminate significant amounts of information with attention to detail and accuracy.