Director, Governance and Business Management, Financial Crimes Middle Office - SMBC

Headquartered in Tokyo, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) is a leading global financial institution and a core member of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMBC Group). Built upon our rich Japanese heritage since 1876, we put our customers first and provide seamless access to, from and within the Asia Pacific region. SMBC is one of the largest Japanese banks by assets and maintain strong credit ratings across our global integrated network. We work closely as one SMBC Group to offer personal, corporate and investment banking services to meet the needs of our customers.

With sustainability embedded within our strategy and operations, we are committed to creating a society in which today's generation can enjoy economic prosperity and well-being, and pass it on to future generations.

Responsibilities

Reporting & Management Information

• Own consolidated FCMO reporting to the Head of FCMO and senior management, including dashboards, key performance and risk indicators, productivity, quality and capacity metrics.
• Standardise reporting definitions, data sources and methodologies across FCMO groups.
• Prepare executive papers, presentations, committee materials and management updates.
• Analyse trends, risks and root causes, providing forward-looking insights and actionable recommendations to management.

Operational & Compliance Risk Oversight

• Maintain a consolidated view of operational, compliance, regulatory, technology, capacity, people and third-party risks across FCMO.
• Identify and escalate emerging risks, including process or control weaknesses, system issues, regulatory developments, resource constraints and key-person dependencies.
• Coordinate FCMO's participation in risk and business continuity assessments, risk registers, issue management and governance reviews.
• Coordinate responses to Internal Audit, Compliance, regulatory, quality assurance and other control findings, and track remediation through to closure.
• Provide independent challenge on control gaps, exceptions and risk acceptance, acting as an early-warning mechanism for the Head of FCMO.
• Provide ad hoc support to KYC activities where required, leveraging prior hands-on experience to support complex cases and maintain a practical understanding of risks, constraints and challenges.

Strategy & Planning

• Support the Head of FCMO in developing and executing medium-term strategy and annual business plans.
• Drive strategic initiatives relating to operating model optimisation, centralisation, outsourcing, workforce transformation, productivity, process redesign and technology.
• Lead budget, headcount, capacity and resource planning, including workload and volume forecasting.
• Track strategic initiatives against agreed milestones, benefits, financial targets and resource assumptions, escalating material deviations.

Remediation, Vendor & Staff Augmentation Oversight

• Oversee FCMO remediation and transformation programmes, including regulatory remediation, system implementation, outsourcing and productivity initiatives.
• Maintain oversight of project scope, milestones, dependencies, risks, costs, resources and benefits.
• Oversee staff augmentation and external service providers, including business cases, vendor selection, onboarding, performance and transition planning.
• Establish appropriate vendor governance and monitor delivery against productivity, quality, service, cost and regulatory requirements.
• Escalate material delivery risks and hold project owners, Group Heads and vendors accountable for agreed commitments.

Stakeholder & Governance Management

• Act as a key liaison between the Head of FCMO, internal stakeholders, Shared Service Centres and external service providers and vendors.
• Coordinate FCMO management meetings and governance forums, ensuring decisions, risks, actions and commitments are documented and followed through.
• Communicate management priorities and strategic direction across FCMO.
• Represent the Head of FCMO where delegated and build effective relationships with key internal and external stakeholders.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Banking, Finance, Accounting, Business, Economics, Law or a related discipline; postgraduate qualification advantageous.
• 10-15 years' relevant experience across AML, KYC, CDD, Financial Crime Compliance, Operations or Risk, with at least 5 years in a leadership, governance or business management capacity.
• Strong knowledge of AML/KYC/CDD, client lifecycle management and Financial Crime Operations, including relevant Singapore regulatory expectations.
• Experience overseeing significant regulatory remediation, transformation, outsourcing, technology or staff augmentation programmes.
• Strong experience in operational risk, controls, governance, audit remediation and vendor management.
• Strong capability in management reporting, operational metrics, workforce and capacity planning, productivity measurement and executive dashboards.
• Proven ability to identify and escalate risks, manage competing priorities and influence senior stakeholders without direct reporting authority.
• Strong stakeholder management, judgement, problem-solving and executive communication skills, including the ability to challenge constructively.
• Knowledge of KYC workflow, screening, transaction monitoring and case management systems; Fenergo experience advantageous.
• Strong Excel, Power BI, PowerPoint and data analytics capability