AVP, Control & Governance

Role Overview

AVP, Control & Governance at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). The role is based in UAE and international locations where Global Markets Middle Office Control & Governance support is required.

Role Purpose

The role supports the GM MO Control & Governance function by executing and monitoring first-line control activities across Global Markets Middle Office processes, ensuring control discipline, timely exception escalation and accurate evidence management. The role performs day-to-day control monitoring across trade controls, risk monitoring, reconciliations, exceptions, breaks, lifecycle events and governance reporting under the direction of the VP & Head of GM MO Control & Governance.

Key Responsibilities

Control Execution and Operating Discipline

• Execute assigned GM MO Control & Governance activities in line with approved SOPs, control standards, escalation protocols and evidence requirements.
• Perform daily, periodic and event-driven control checks across assigned Global Markets products and processes.
• Maintain disciplined control logs, issue trackers, exception records, evidence files and escalation documentation.
• Support the VP & Head of GM MO Control & Governance in implementing the control operating model, SOP updates, control library requirements and governance routines.
• Identify recurring issues, control gaps, data-quality issues and process breakdowns, and support remediation planning.

Trade Controls

• Perform trading permissions control checks against approved desk mandates, product permissions, system entitlements and operating standards.
• Perform booking template and desk business model control checks to identify booking inconsistencies, inappropriate template usage or policy deviations.
• Support review of internal trade booking controls and Islamic trade booking controls where applicable.
• Review amendment and cancellation control evidence, including approvals, rationale, thresholds and escalation requirements.
• Escalate breaches, repeated exceptions or unresolved control issues to the VP & Head of GM MO Control & Governance and relevant owner functions.

Risk Monitoring and Surveillance Support

• Perform off-market trade monitoring checks and coordinate escalation of indicators requiring review by Product Control, Market Risk, Front Office or Compliance.
• Support counterparty exposure monitoring activities by tracking exceptions, threshold breaches, pending clarifications and required stakeholder actions.
• Validate completeness of monitoring outputs, exception comments, investigation evidence and escalation status.
• Identify trends in off-market indicators, exposure breaches, late actions or recurring control exceptions.
• Provide inputs into risk-monitoring dashboards, KRI reporting and governance forums.

Reconciliations and Exception Governance

• Perform or oversee assigned internal reconciliation checks, including front-to-back, system-to-system, T0 and position-related reconciliations where applicable.
• Support external reconciliation follow-up with custodians, counterparties, brokers, clearing channels or market infrastructure providers where applicable.
• Track failed trades, alleged trades, settlement fails, aged breaks and unresolved exceptions within agreed escalation standards.
• Coordinate root-cause analysis for recurring breaks, aged items and high-impact exceptions.
• Ensure reconciliation evidence, exception commentary and remediation actions are complete, accurate and available for management review.

Lifecycle Events and Control Support

• Monitor assigned lifecycle event controls, including credit events, corporate actions, settlement-related lifecycle updates and other post-trade control triggers where applicable.
• Coordinate with Trade Support, Operations, Product Control, Market Risk and other stakeholders to ensure lifecycle-related control issues are investigated and escalated.
• Track open lifecycle-event control items, evidence completion, owner actions and closure status.
• Support timely escalation of high-impact lifecycle events or unresolved control matters to the VP & Head of GM MO Control & Governance.
• Contribute to remediation of recurring lifecycle control issues through process clarification, control enhancement and stakeholder follow-up.

Reporting, Management Information and Governance Inputs

• Prepare inputs for management dashboards, KPI/KRI reporting, control packs and governance forums relating to assigned control activities.
• Provide accurate commentary on exceptions, aged items, trends, breaches, remediation actions and control performance.
• Support regulatory reporting quality oversight by tracking rejections, breaks, owner actions and remediation status where assigned.
• Ensure reporting inputs are accurate, complete, timely and supported by appropriate evidence.
• Support automation and dashboard enhancement opportunities for control reporting and issue tracking.

Audit, RCSA and Control Evidence Support

• Support audit, RCSA, operational risk and control-effectiveness activities by preparing control evidence, issue status updates and remediation tracking.
• Maintain auditable evidence for assigned controls, including source data, review notes, approvals, exception comments and closure records.
• Assist in documenting process gaps, control issues, remediation plans and management action updates.
• Support closure of audit and control-review actions within assigned responsibility areas.
• Escalate overdue actions, missing evidence or unresolved audit/control issues to the VP & Head of GM MO Control & Governance.

Stakeholder Management and Issue Resolution

• Coordinate with Front Office, GM MO Trade Support, Global Markets Operations, Market Risk, Product Control, Finance, Compliance, Technology, Credit and regional teams on control investigations and issue resolution.
• Maintain clear communication on control findings, required actions, deadlines, owners and escalation status.
• Provide independent challenge where control issues, incomplete evidence or recurring weaknesses are identified.
• Support effective hand-offs between Trade Support execution activities and Control & Governance oversight activities.
• Promote a disciplined, evidence-based and timely escalation culture across assigned control processes.

Process Improvement and Automation

• Identify opportunities to simplify controls, reduce manual effort, improve evidence capture and enhance reporting accuracy.
• Participate in UAT, workflow design, dashboard development and automation initiatives impacting Control & Governance processes.
• Support standardisation of control checklists, control logs, escalation templates and governance reporting formats.
• Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen control effectiveness, reduce recurring issues and improve operational resilience.
• Coach Specialists where assigned and support knowledge transfer across products and control processes.

Frameworks, Boundaries and Decision-Making Authority

• Operate within Group policies, approved procedures, organisational governance frameworks and approved authorisation matrices.
• Execute assigned controls and escalation activities within approved SOPs, operating standards, control libraries and evidence requirements.
• Escalate material control issues, unresolved exceptions, aged breaks, regulatory reporting breaks, missing evidence and repeated process failures to the VP & Head of GM MO Control & Governance.
• Maintain clear boundaries with GM MO Trade Support: Trade Support owns execution enablement, while Control & Governance owns independent control monitoring, evidence, exception tracking and governance escalation.
• Support audit, RCSA, KPI/KRI and control-effectiveness processes by maintaining accurate records, timely evidence and clear action tracking.
• Exercise judgement within delegated authority for prioritising control reviews, coordinating issue resolution and escalating exceptions.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Banking, Economics, Business Administration, Accounting, Risk Management or a related discipline; professional qualification preferred.
• 7+ years of experience in Global Markets Operations, Middle Office, Control, Governance, Reconciliations, Regulatory Reporting, Product Control, Market Risk, Collateral Management or related first-line control functions.
• Strong understanding of Global Markets products including FX, Money Markets, Rates, Derivatives, Commodities, Capital Markets and structured products.
• Good knowledge of trade lifecycle controls, booking controls, amendment/cancellation controls, reconciliations, settlement-fail monitoring, lifecycle events and exception management.
• Experience preparing control evidence, issue logs, reconciliation commentary, KPI/KRI inputs, audit evidence and management reporting.
• Practical knowledge of systems and platforms such as Murex, MarkitWire, Bloomberg, reconciliation tools, regulatory reporting platforms and workflow/dashboard tools.
• Strong stakeholder management, investigation, analytical, escalation and documentation skills.
• Experience supporting process standardization, control enhancement, automation, UAT or operating-model change.

Skills & Competencies

Technical Knowledge and Competencies

• Global Markets Control & Governance
• Trade control execution
• Trading permissions controls
• Booking template controls
• Internal and Islamic trade booking controls
• Off-market trade monitoring
• Counterparty exposure monitoring
• Reconciliation and break tracking
• Failed and alleged trade monitoring
• Settlement-fail monitoring
• Lifecycle event control support
• Control evidence management
• Regulatory reporting break tracking
• KPI/KRI inputs and dashboards
• RCSA and audit evidence support
• Issue and action tracking
• Murex, MarkitWire and Bloomberg knowledge
• Workflow, reconciliation and reporting tools
• SOPs and control libraries
• Escalation protocols and governance packs

Leadership and Behavioral Competencies

• Control mindset
• Attention to detail
• Independent challenge
• Stakeholder management
• Clear communication
• Escalation discipline