Legal, Risk & Compliance Manager

Key Responsibilities:

Legal Advisory

• Provide day-to-day legal advice to management and business teams.
• Review, draft and negotiate commercial agreements, partnership agreements, vendor contracts, employment-related agreements, NDAs and other legal documents.
• Review contracts with banks, payment service providers, merchants, agents, technology providers and other strategic partners.
• Identify and advise management on legal risks arising from proposed business activities.
• Ensure appropriate contractual protections are included in commercial arrangements.
• Manage relationships with external legal counsel.
• Monitor litigation, disputes and claims involving the company.
• Maintain appropriate records of legal matters and contracts.
• Advise management on applicable Ghanaian laws affecting the business.

Regulatory Compliance

• Develop and maintain an effective regulatory compliance framework for MVend Ghana.
• Monitor applicable laws, regulations, regulatory notices, directives and industry requirements.
• Ensure compliance with applicable requirements of the Bank of Ghana and other relevant regulatory authorities, depending on the company's licence and activities.
• Maintain a regulatory obligations register.
• Coordinate regulatory reporting and submissions.
• Monitor compliance with licence conditions and regulatory commitments.
• Advise management on the regulatory implications of new products, services, partnerships and business models.
• Support regulatory inspections, examinations and audits.
• Ensure regulatory findings are appropriately addressed and closed within agreed timelines.

AML/CFT & KYC

• Oversee the company's Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing framework.
• Ensure appropriate Know Your Customer (KYC) and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) procedures are implemented.
• Establish enhanced due diligence processes for higher-risk customers and transactions.
• Monitor compliance with applicable AML/CFT requirements.
• Support transaction monitoring and suspicious activity escalation processes.
• Ensure appropriate customer identification and verification procedures.
• Review and update AML/CFT policies and procedures.
• Coordinate relevant regulatory reporting and suspicious transaction reporting processes.
• Conduct periodic AML/CFT risk assessments.
• Organise AML/KYC training for employees and relevant business partners.

Risk Management

Develop and maintain an effective Enterprise Risk Management framework covering:

• Regulatory risk
• Legal risk
• Operational risk
• Financial risk
• Credit risk, where applicable
• Fraud risk
• Cybersecurity and technology risk
• Data/privacy risk
• Third-party/vendor risk
• Reputational risk
• Business continuity risk

Key responsibilities include:

• Maintain the company's risk register.
• Identify and assess emerging risks.
• Develop risk mitigation plans.
• Establish risk indicators and monitoring mechanisms.
• Monitor risk exposure against approved risk appetite.
• Escalate material risks to senior management.
• Coordinate periodic enterprise risk assessments.
• Prepare risk reports for management and the Board/Risk Committee.

Data Protection & Privacy

• Ensure the company's handling of customer, employee and business data complies with applicable Ghanaian data protection requirements.
• Work with Technology and Information Security teams to identify privacy and data risks.
• Review data-processing arrangements with third parties.
• Support privacy impact assessments where required.
• Maintain appropriate privacy policies, notices and procedures.
• Advise on customer consent and lawful processing of personal data.
• Support the management of data breaches and privacy incidents.
• Promote employee awareness of data protection responsibilities.

Consumer Protection

• Ensure customer-facing products, communications and processes comply with applicable consumer protection requirements.
• Review customer terms and conditions, disclosures and product documentation.
• Monitor customer complaints and identify systemic compliance issues.
• Ensure customers receive appropriate information about fees, charges, products and services.
• Work with Customer Experience and Operations teams to improve complaint management.
• Monitor potentially unfair, misleading or inappropriate customer practices.

Product & Business Advisory

The Manager will act as a strategic partner to the business by:

• Reviewing new products and services from a legal, regulatory and risk perspective.
• Participating in product development and launch processes.
• Conducting compliance assessments before product launches.
• Advising on new markets, customer segments and distribution channels.
• Reviewing marketing campaigns and customer communications where necessary.
• Assessing regulatory implications of new technologies and business models.
• Providing practical recommendations that enable innovation while managing risk.

Fraud & Financial Crime Risk

• Develop and monitor the company's fraud risk management framework.
• Identify potential fraud vulnerabilities across products and processes.
• Work with Operations, Technology and Finance to investigate suspected fraud.
• Establish appropriate fraud prevention and detection controls.
• Monitor fraud trends and recommend corrective measures.
• Support investigations into suspected financial crime.
• Ensure appropriate escalation and documentation of material incidents.

Third-Party & Vendor Risk

• Conduct legal and compliance due diligence on key third parties.
• Assess regulatory and operational risks associated with vendors and partners.
• Review third-party contracts and service-level agreements.
• Ensure appropriate confidentiality, data protection, business continuity and liability provisions are included.
• Maintain a third-party risk register.
• Monitor material vendors and strategic partners for ongoing compliance.

Policies & Governance

• Develop, review and maintain legal, risk and compliance policies.
• Ensure policies are communicated and implemented across the organisation.
• Establish appropriate compliance monitoring programmes.
• Develop compliance checklists and control frameworks.
• Coordinate periodic policy reviews.
• Maintain appropriate governance documentation.
• Support Board and management committees with compliance and risk reports.

Training & Compliance

• Develop annual legal, risk and compliance training programmes.
• Train employees on:
• AML/KYC
• Data protection
• Fraud prevention
• Regulatory requirements
• Conflict of interest
• Code of conduct
• Whistleblowing
• Information security
• Promote a strong culture of ethical conduct and regulatory compliance.
• Ensure employees understand their individual compliance responsibilities.

Regulatory & External Stakeholder Relations

• Serve as a key point of contact for regulatory and compliance matters.
• Coordinate communications and engagements with relevant regulatory authorities.
• Prepare the company for regulatory examinations and inspections.
• Respond to regulatory queries and information requests.
• Maintain a regulatory calendar.
• Monitor regulatory developments and communicate their impact to management.
• Maintain strong working relationships with external legal counsel and professional advisers.

Internal Audit & Assurance

• Work with Internal Audit and external auditors on legal, risk and compliance matters.
• Coordinate management responses to audit findings.
• Monitor remediation of compliance and risk issues.
• Conduct periodic compliance reviews.
• Track corrective actions and ensure timely closure.
• Report unresolved material issues to senior management.

Business Continuity & Incident Management

• Support the development and maintenance of business continuity and disaster recovery plans.
• Participate in incident response processes.
• Ensure significant operational, regulatory, cyber, fraud or data incidents are appropriately escalated.
• Coordinate post-incident reviews.
• Recommend measures to prevent recurrence of material incidents.

Educational Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Law, Finance, Accounting, Risk Management, Business Administration or a related discipline.
• A professional legal qualification is strongly preferred where the role has significant legal responsibilities
• Master's degree in Law, Compliance, Risk Management, Finance or Business Administration is an advantage.

Professional Certifications

Relevant certifications may include:

• AML/Financial Crime certification
• Certified Risk Management qualification
• Compliance certification
• Data protection/privacy certification
• Chartered Accountant qualification
• Other relevant financial services regulatory qualifications

Technical Competencies

• Ghanaian financial services regulatory environment
• AML/CFT
• KYC/CDD
• Enterprise Risk Management
• Regulatory compliance
• Contract drafting and negotiation
• Corporate governance
• Data protection and privacy
• Fraud risk management
• Consumer protection
• Third-party risk
• Compliance monitoring
• Regulatory reporting
• Business continuity
• Legal research and interpretation
• Risk and compliance reporting

Experience:

• A professional legal qualification is highly desirable, particularly for a role with substantial legal responsibilities.
• Professional certification in Compliance, Risk Management, AML/CFT or related areas is an advantage.
• 3–5 years' relevant experience, preferably with experience in FinTech, banking, payments, financial services or a regulated environment.
• Strong knowledge of Ghana's regulatory and financial-services environment.
• Experience in AML/CFT, KYC, data protection, corporate governance and risk management.
• Strong contract drafting and negotiation skills.
• Excellent analytical, communication and stakeholder-management skills.

The Person

• The ideal candidate should be commercially minded, highly ethical, analytical and proactive, with the ability to balance regulatory requirements with business growth.

Personal Attributes

The successful candidate must be:

• Commercially driven and results-oriented
• Entrepreneurial and innovative
• Highly ethical and trustworthy
• Confident and influential
• Customer-focused
• Analytical and data-driven
• Resilient and adaptable
• A strong negotiator
• An excellent communicator
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced technology environment
• Capable of balancing rapid growth with regulatory and operational discipline

Location: Accra

Salary: Attractive