General Manager, Compliance Testing at Equity Bank Kenya

Role Purpose: 

Leads the delivery of independent, risk-based compliance testing and assurance, ensuring control effectiveness, timely remediation of issues, and actionable insights to support a strong regulatory control environment in all areas of the Bank.

Key Accountabilities: 

• Lead and oversee the design and implementation of a risk-based compliance testing programme, ensuring full alignment to the Enterprise Risk Management Framework (ERMF), regulatory requirements, and industry best practices.
• Develop and approve the Annual Testing Plan (ATP), ensuring comprehensive coverage of all branches and Head Office functions based on robust, risk-driven prioritization.
• Direct and oversee the execution of both onsite and offsite compliance testing, ensuring adherence to approved scope, timelines, methodologies, and quality standards.
• Provide independent assurance on technical compliance, control design adequacy, and operating effectiveness of controls, ensuring alignment with regulatory expectations and internal policies.
• Oversee the consistent application of standardized scoring methodologies, rating models, and alignment of testing outcomes to established risk appetite thresholds.
• Review and approve all compliance testing reports, ensuring delivery of clear, insightful, and concise outputs, including robust root cause analysis and executive-level reporting.
• Enforce and monitor adherence to service level agreements (SLAs) for testing execution, reporting, and remediation, including performance tracking and escalation of delays.
• Ensure timely escalation of material findings, high-risk issues, and regulatory breaches in accordance with established governance frameworks and regulatory expectations.
• Oversee end-to-end issue management, including identification, tracking, remediation, validation, and ongoing sustainability monitoring of control effectiveness.
• Drive effective stakeholder engagement through structured communication and socialization of testing outcomes with Heads of Functions, ensuring ownership, accountability, and timely remediation.
• Lead and develop the Compliance Testing team, ensuring delivery of high-quality second line assurance, strong technical capability, and adherence to professional and regulatory standards.

Qualifications

Education and Experience: 

• Bachelor’s degree plus relevant professional qualifications such as CAMS, ICA.
• Minimum 8–10 years’ experience in Compliance, Risk, or Internal Audit
• At least 5 years in a leadership role within second line or assurance functions
• Proven experience in Risk-based compliance testing, Regulatory engagement, Control assurance and reporting

Key Skills and Competencies: 

• Strong knowledge of compliance testing, risk assessment, and control frameworks
• Good understanding of Banking Operations
• Ability to interpret regulatory requirements and their application in practice
• Analytical and data-driven decision-making capability
• Strong report writing and executive communication skills
• Leadership and stakeholder management capability
• High integrity, independence, and professional judgment