General Manager, Level 1 (L1) Compliance at Equity Bank Kenya

Job Purpose: 

The General Manager, Level 1 Compliance leads the execution of day-to-day compliance and financial crime controls across Equity Bank (Kenya) Limited. The role ensures regulatory, conduct and financial crime requirements are translated into consistently executed operational processes supported by effective supervision, quality management, timely escalation and reliable management information. The role provides leadership over Financial Crime Surveillance; Governance, Sanctions and Risk Assessments; Customer Due Diligence Advisory and Correspondent Banking; and Regulatory Compliance and Anti Bribery and Corruption activities. Working closely with Level 2 Compliance, Business, Operations and Technology, the role drives control effectiveness, service-level performance, system and scenario effectiveness, remediation delivery and sustainable compliance outcomes while preserving clear accountability between execution and independent oversight.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the Level 1 Compliance function and establish clear operating standards, accountabilities, service levels, quality thresholds and escalation protocols across all units.
• Oversee transaction monitoring and financial crime surveillance, including automated and manual alert review, investigation, disposition, suspicious activity referral, escalation of Suspicious Transaction Reports to the Money Laundering Reporting Officer, and completion of post-investigation actions.
• Oversee real-time and T+1 name screening, transaction and payment screening, sanctions investigations, periodic and ongoing screening, and timely escalation of potential sanctions matches and control failures.
• Ensure effective governance of financial crime systems and scenarios, including data-quality monitoring, scenario performance reviews, tuning support, change implementation, user requirements and timely resolution of operational defects.
•  Lead Customer Due Diligence and Enhanced Due Diligence advisory, including high-risk and complex onboarding, politically exposed persons and sensitive clients, beneficial ownership, passport screening and verification, high-risk customer reviews and specialized due diligence.
• Oversee correspondent banking and partnership due diligence, requests for information, questionnaires, risk assessments, ongoing reviews and escalation of material concerns.
• Lead Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and Common Reporting Standard processes, data remediation, operational controls and reporting support.
• Oversee execution of Regulatory Compliance and Anti-Bribery and Corruption controls, including gifts and entertainment, hiring practices, sponsorships and donations, manual payments, third-party assessments and other assigned conduct controls.
• Oversee customer, product, channel, geography, third-party, sanctions, conduct and compliance risk assessments, ensuring consistent methodology, complete evidence, clear ownership and timely treatment of identified risks.
• Ensure implementation, monitoring and enforcement of Compliance and Financial Crime Compliance policies, standards and procedures within Level 1 operations, with prompt escalation of breaches, exceptions and control failures.
• Promote an evidence-based compliance culture focused on demonstrable control effectiveness, timely action, customer protection, strong documentation and audit readiness.
• Own the Risk and Control Self-Assessment for Level 1 compliance controls and maintain accurate risk, control, issue and action records supported by current evidence.
• Provide practical compliance and financial crime advisory to Business and support functions, while seeking Level 2 interpretation or challenge where matters are material, novel or outside approved guidance.
• Drive timely execution of remediation programmes arising from regulatory inspections, compliance testing, internal audit, quality assurance, system reviews and management-identified control weaknesses.
• Establish robust quality management through supervisory reviews, operational quality checks, root-cause analysis, coaching and recurring-error prevention.
• Develop accurate and forward-looking management information, operational dashboards and key risk indicators covering volumes, ageing, backlogs, productivity, quality, breaches, emerging risks, capacity and remediation status.
• Ensure material risks, significant backlogs, service-level breaches, suspicious activity, sanctions concerns and control failures are escalated promptly to the Head of Compliance and relevant Level 2 owners.  
• Lead implementation of regulatory change, procedure updates, new controls, system enhancements and training requirements within Level 1 operations.
• Coordinate with Technology, Operations, Data, Business and other stakeholders to improve automation, data quality, workflow efficiency and sustainable control performance.
• Lead workforce planning, succession, capability development, performance management and deployment of staff across Level 1 units, ensuring adequate capacity for risk and workload demand.

Qualifications
Education and Experience: 

• Bachelor’s degree in Law, Business, Finance, Economics, Risk Management, Information Systems or a related field.
• A recognized professional qualification in Compliance or Financial Crime, such as Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist, International Compliance Association certification, Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional or equivalent.
• A master’s degree in Law, Business, Finance, Risk Management or a related field is an added advantage.
• At least 10 years of relevant experience in banking, financial services, compliance, financial crime risk management, operations, risk or a related control function, including at least 5 to 7 years in a senior leadership role.
• The candidate should demonstrate experience leading large or multi-disciplinary operational teams, managing transaction monitoring or screening activities, overseeing Customer Due Diligence and Enhanced Due Diligence, delivering remediation and system change programmes, managing high-volume service levels and engaging senior stakeholders in a regulated environment.

Core Accountabilities and Deliverables 

• Level 1 Compliance team leadership.
• Financial crime surveillance, alert investigation and escalation within approved service levels.
• Name, sanctions, transaction and payment screening operations.
• Customer Due Diligence, Enhanced Due Diligence, politically exposed persons and sensitive-client advisory.
• Correspondent banking and partnership due diligence.
• Compliance and Financial Crime Compliance risk assessments and Risk and Control Self-Assessments.
• Regulatory compliance and Anti-Bribery and Corruption control execution.
• Quality, productivity, backlog, capacity and control-effectiveness dashboards.
• Timely breach escalation, issue management and remediation delivery.
• Financial crime technology, data, systems and scenario operational support.
• Effective implementation of Level 2 frameworks, policies, standards and regulatory change.
• Leadership, capability development and succession across Level 1 teams.

Key Technical skills and Competencies

• Deep knowledge of Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorist Financing, Counter-Proliferation Financing, sanctions and broader financial crime controls; transaction monitoring, screening, investigations, suspicious activity escalation, Customer Due Diligence, Enhanced Due Diligence and correspondent banking; regulatory compliance, conduct risk, consumer protection, Anti-Bribery and Corruption, tax transparency and third-party risk controls; high-volume operations management; data literacy; systems and scenario understanding; sound judgement; disciplined escalation; people leadership; change execution; stakeholder influence; and clear executive communication.