Vice President, FCO Governance, Quality, and Capability

Job summary / Introduction

The VP - Head of FCO Governance, MI & Reporting, Quality Control, Training & Education is accountable for establishing and leading a centralised control, governance, and intelligence capability across FCO.

The role acts as the 'control tower' for FCO, ensuring that operations are:

Data-led,

Consistently governed,

Quality assured, and

Continuously improving.

This includes end-to-end ownership of:

Governance frameworks and control oversight

Management Information (MI), reporting, and performance analytics

Quality control and outcome testing

Training, capability development, and knowledge management

The role is critical to ensuring that FCO operates in line with the Bank's risk appetite, regulatory expectations, and strategic transformation agenda, while driving efficiency, standardization, and scalability across all locations.

Key responsibilities

Governance & control oversight

Design and implement a robust FCO governance framework, ensuring clear accountability across all processes.

Establish and oversee control standards, procedures, and operating models across audit, regulatory, and internal audit findings.

Act as the central point for governance forums, including preparation of materials and articulation of key risks and themes.

Provide credible challenges and oversight to FCO AML Transaction Monitoring, Sanctions Monitoring, TBML Monitoring and Fraud Monitoring teams to ensure adherence to policies and control effectiveness.

Management information (MI) & reporting

Own and deliver a comprehensive MI and reporting framework across FCO.

Define and implement KPIs and KRIs covering productivity, quality, risk, and customer outcomes.

Ensure reporting is accurate, timely, and insight-driven, supporting decision-making at senior management and ExCo level.

Drive standardization of reporting across geographies and teams.

Develop forward-looking dashboards and early warning indicators to proactively identify risks and performance issues.

Quality control & outcome assurance

Establish and lead a global QC and outcome testing framework, ensuring consistency and defensibility of investigations.

Define quality standards, review methodologies, and sampling approaches.

Identify systemic issues and control weaknesses ensuring root cause analysis and sustainable remediation.

Provide independent assurance over:

Alert investigations

STR quality

Decision-making consistency

Embed a continuous feedback loop between QC, operations, and training.

Training, capability & education

Design and implement a comprehensive training and capability framework across FCO.

Develop a training needs analysis, training plan and ensure all staff are trained on:

AML/CTF typologies

Sanctions risks

Fraud typologies

Investigation standards

Regulatory expectations

Develop role-based learning paths and certification frameworks.

Drive continuous professional development and capability uplift across onshore and offshore teams.

Ensure effective knowledge management and dissemination of emerging risks and best practices.

Operational excellence & continuous improvement

Drive standardization, simplification, and optimization of processes across FCO.

Identify and lead efficiency and transformation initiatives, including automation and workflow enhancements.

Ensure alignment between governance, analytics, QC, and FCO teams to deliver a cohesive operating model.

Establish a culture of performance discipline, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Stakeholder & regulatory engagement

Act as a key interface with:

Group Compliance

Internal Audit

1LOD Stakeholders

Support regulatory reviews and audits, ensuring clear articulation of FCO control environment and performance.

Provide data-led insights and transparency to senior stakeholders.

Frameworks, boundaries, & decision making authority

Accountable for defining and maintaining the FCO governance, MI, QC, and training frameworks.

Authority to:

Define KPIs, KRIs, and reporting standards across FCO

Approve QC methodologies, sampling approaches, and quality thresholds

Escalate material risks, control weaknesses, and systemic issues to senior governance forums

Recommend and drive control enhancements and process changes

Operates within the Bank's risk appetite, regulatory requirements, and governance frameworks, with strong alignment to 2LOD oversight.

Act as a senior control function within 1LOD, with independence from day-to-day operations to ensure effective oversight and challenge.

Requirements / Qualifications

Minimum qualification

Bachelor's degree or higher in management, banking, finance, preferably with certification in compliance, transactions monitoring/sanctions screening, KYC/AML/CTF, financial crime or risk management.

ACAMS and/or ICA Certification.

Technical competencies / Experience

12 - 15+ years' experience in financial crime, AML, sanctions, trade based money laundering, fraud risk management, compliance, audit, or risk within global financial institutions.

Proven experience in:

Governance and control frameworks

MI, reporting, and data analytics

Quality assurance, testing, audit

Large-scale operations or transformation programmes

Strong understanding of:

AML/CTF/TBML/Sanctions/Fraud regimes and typologies

Investigative processes

Demonstrated ability to:

Lead large multi-location teams

Influence senior stakeholders and operate at executive level

Translate data into strategic insights and decisions

Preferred / Beneficial

Experience in technology-enabled transformation, including analytics and automation, is highly desirable.

About us

First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) is the largest bank in the UAE and one of the world's largest and safest financial institutions. We offer a comprehensive range of personal and private banking services, including credit cards, Islamic banking, investments, loans, and mortgages. Our commitment to excellence and innovation drives us to provide top-tier financial solutions to our clients.

Life at FAB

Working at FAB means being part of a team of talented and passionate individuals with a shared vision to support the ambitions of our stakeholders to "Grow Stronger." We embrace the needs of our customers across the globe with a sense of responsibility and confidence driven by extensive expertise that can only be delivered by an ambitious world-class organization.

Career development

FAB offers unique career choices, a chance to innovate, craft solutions for the future, and express yourself in a performance-based culture that will unleash the best in you. Whether you are an experienced professional or just starting your career, FAB provides a range of learning and development initiatives to support all employees through training and skill development.

Our values

At FAB, we place our customers at the core of our activities, live our values each day in every way, celebrate achievements, and empower each other to deliver leading solutions. We have structured plans for the recruitment and career progression of Emirati talent to enable them to make a mark in the financial and banking sector both regionally and globally that rewards your hard work and dedication.

Join our team and be part of a journey to shape the future of banking.