Date: June 2, 2011

Re: Sr. Associate Agency Risk & Control Manager

Location: Niagara Region, Ontario

Industry: Financial Services

Job Overview:

As a member of the Agency Risk and Control (ARC) department, the mandate and mission of this role is to provide focused, thorough, objective assessments on agency risk management, control and governance-related processes to maximize returns and mitigate risk to the bank. The ARC agency review approach is designed to foster sustainable improvements in these processes, and to enhance bank's ability to meet its business goals and objectives in a manner to control risk and drive maximum returns.

Responsibilities

• The Sr. Associate Agency Risk and Control Manager is responsible for ensuring the successful execution of assigned agency reviews, while fostering a pro-active, high performance team environment.
• Assist the Manager in ensuring that all recoveries activity within their portfolios are consistent with and supportive of the bank's risk management initiatives.
• The governance of third party business partners (agencies/vendors) in order to positively impact net write off while mitigating risk to the bank's brand.
• Work with the agencies/debt purchasers for the annual risk assessments of the bank's unique service providers and follow-up, with the focus of finalizing the assessment. The incumbent provides input for the reporting of the risk exposure of the agency organization to management.
• Plans and performs the verification of internal controls within the business operations. Provides oversight related to the governance and operational support to the vendors for compliance with Privacy legislation relative to the bank's guidelines and expectations under PIPEDA.
• The incumbent routinely represents the bank in court proceedings, acting as a paralegal, in small claims court proceedings initiated by the agencies or as requested by the bank's internal legal and as an expert witness in Queen's Court for counsel.
• Plans and carries out their duties independently, planning and executing all travel and activities, within their assigned portfolios with minimal input from the manager.
• Demonstrate integrity and objectivity in every thought and action to support the fair and accurate assessment of external agency risks and reporting of results.
• Build trust and credibility in all interactions with management, staff and owners of the agencies, through open, ongoing and respectful communication.
• Demonstrate commitment to increasing risk and control awareness and understanding with all agencies and the Bank to enhance the capability for achieving timely and sustainable improvements in risk management and control processes while maximizing financial returns.
• Add value as a positive change agent by taking a pro-active approach to addressing risks by working with the agency principles to allocate appropriate resources to significant risk areas while key initiatives are in progress, rather than after the fact.
• The incumbent will be required to travel across Canada to complete agency account/audit reviews with a high degree of independence in planning and completing their assigned tasks along with the ongoing court appearances.

Required Competencies

• Must have a demonstrated knowledge of the BIA, Credit Counselling programs in Canada and legal protocol relative to small claims court proceedings.
• Strong knowledge of risks and processes relating to agency operations, accounting operations, the Collections Agency Act and bank regulatory environment. This expertise would be obtained with a minimum of 7 years related industry or an industry related professional designation or post-graduate degree .
• Strong audit or risk management experience would be obtained in a complex or large industry related corporate environment.
• Must demonstrate strong verbal and written communication
• Although not a requirement, an asset would be to hold the status of a licensed paralegal relative to small claims court proceedings.
• Bilingual skills (French) would be an asset.