Senior Officer CPRC - Emirati Talent

Job Purpose:

The Senior Officer - CPRC will support the Vice President in overseeing and managing consumer protection, regulation, and control. This role involves collaborating with various teams to ensure adherence to regulatory standards, promoting fair practices, and enhancing consumer education and awareness.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

1. Regulatory Compliance:

Develop and implement strategies to ensure compliance with consumer protection standards and regulations.

Monitor regulatory changes and update policies and procedures accordingly.

Work closely with the compliance team to ensure adherence to laws, regulations, and standards.

2. Conduct Risk Management:

• Assist in developing and implementing the conduct risk framework in alignment with the bank’s risk management strategy.
• Monitor conduct risk trends and leverage data to inform strategy development.
• Participate in training and workshops on ethical conduct and regulatory compliance.

3. Consumer Education and Awareness:

• Develop and execute consumer education and awareness programs.
• Ensure information on consumer rights, responsibilities, and financial literacy is accessible and effectively communicated.
• Collaborate with marketing and communications teams to promote awareness initiatives.
• Collaborate and coordinate programs with other organizations to ensure the respective consumer base has full access to programs.
• Designate a CEA (Consumer Education and Awareness) function responsible for such programs within the Licensed Financial Institution.
• File a summary report with the Central Bank by January 31st of every year, setting out the past year’s educational and awareness activities and the proposed program for the coming year.
• Test the content and delivery of all initiatives on a broadly representative sample of the audience before customer/public release to ensure suitability and effectiveness.
• Conduct an annual review of educational initiatives to assess their impact and reach, and make necessary adjustments based on the assessment.
• Follow any guidance issued by the Central Bank recommending the focus, content, or approach of the educational and awareness programs

4. Stakeholder Collaboration:

• Collaborate with various departments to integrate consumer protection considerations into product design and delivery.
• Establish relationships with external bodies for consumer protection best practices.
• Support digital transformation initiatives addressing potential consumer risks in digital channels.

5. Monitoring of Market Conduct by Management:

• Monitor marketplace behavior of sales, marketing, financing/lending, and advisory services.
• Conduct and document, at minimum, monthly call backs on a sample of Consumers to detect any inappropriate conduct by Staff.
• Conduct regular mystery shopping and site visits of locations where the Licensed Financial Institution’s business is carried out to ensure that advertising, sales, financing/lending, and advisory practices are in line with internal standards and control framework.
• Collect and analyze Consumer Complaints and prepare trend analysis reports from all monitoring activities to be reported monthly to Senior Management.
• Document the control framework for monitoring activities and ensure findings and management reports are available for Central Bank inspection on demand.

6. Consumer Access and Service Standards:

• Respect the Consumer’s right to access all or part of Financial Products and/or Services suited to his/her needs upon presentation of adequate identification and in accordance with UAE laws and Regulations.
• Establish and track service performance standards for activities including account opening, approval and disbursement of credit/financing facilities and funds, account closure, issuance of documents including liability and clearance letters, and time to acknowledge, respond to, and resolve Consumer Complaints.
• Comply with service performance standards as prescribed by the Central Bank.

7. Reporting and Documentation:

• Prepare and submit reports on consumer protection activities, including compliance status and risk assessments.
• Maintain documentation of policies, procedures, and compliance records.
• Ensure timely submission of required reports to regulatory bodies.

Minimum Qualification & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Law, Economics, or related field.
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience in a similar role.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Strong understanding of consumer protection laws and regulations.
• Experience in the banking or financial services industry is desirable.

Technical & Behavioral Competencies:

• Knowledge of local and international consumer protection regulations.
• Ability to analyze complex regulatory issues and develop effective solutions.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to work collaboratively across departments and with external stakeholders.

Commitment to ethical conduct and consumer advocacy.