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Compliance, Risk & Governance Leadership – Welcome to Equity Bank Kenya, Nairobi

Welcome to Equity Bank Kenya • Nairobi, Kenya

Category Banking & Financial Services
Job Type Full_time
Experience Minimum 12+ years of professional experience in banking, compliance, or financial regulation At least 5+ years in senior leadership or executive compliance roles Experience in multi-jurisdictional financial...
Industry Banking
Salary KES 80,000 – 120,000 /month
Posted Apr 30, 2026

Job Description

The Group Head of Regulatory Compliance is a senior executive leadership position responsible for architecting and steering the regulatory compliance strategy across Equity Group Holdings and its subsidiaries. This role sits at the core of enterprise governance, ensuring that regulatory obligations, conduct standards, and financial integrity controls are fully embedded within business operations across multiple jurisdictions. The successful candidate will provide strategic leadership in shaping a resilient compliance ecosystem that aligns with international regulatory expectations, financial crime prevention frameworks, and evolving supervisory requirements. This includes driving the design and execution of a forward-looking compliance risk architecture that supports sustainable business growth while safeguarding institutional integrity. Working closely with the Group Head of Compliance, Financial Crime and Conduct (CFCC), this role ensures seamless coordination between compliance, risk, legal, audit, and business leadership functions. The objective is to translate complex regulatory expectations into actionable governance structures that enhance decision-making, strengthen internal controls, and reduce exposure to compliance and conduct risks. A core responsibility of this position is the continuous enhancement of the Group’s second-line compliance capability. This involves strengthening regulatory intelligence systems, improving risk detection mechanisms, and ensuring timely interpretation and implementation of regulatory changes across all business units. The role also plays a critical part in ensuring that compliance considerations are embedded within product innovation, digital transformation initiatives, and customer lifecycle processes. The Group Head of Regulatory Compliance will lead enterprise-wide compliance assurance programs, including risk-based monitoring, thematic reviews, and control effectiveness assessments. The role is also responsible for advancing compliance performance analytics by developing meaningful metrics that provide executive leadership with real-time visibility into emerging risks, trends, and control effectiveness. In addition, the role provides oversight of regulatory engagement frameworks, ensuring structured and proactive communication with regulators, supervisory authorities, and industry bodies. This includes managing obligations tracking systems and ensuring timely response to regulatory expectations across all operational markets. A significant part of this leadership mandate involves driving a strong compliance culture through structured training programs, awareness initiatives, and leadership engagement strategies. The role ensures that all employees understand their regulatory responsibilities and operate within clearly defined governance boundaries. This is a high-impact leadership role requiring deep expertise in regulatory compliance, financial crime risk management, and enterprise governance. The ideal candidate will demonstrate strong executive presence, advanced analytical capability, and the ability to influence strategic decisions at board and C-suite level within a complex, multi-market financial institution.

Key Responsibilities

  • Define and execute the Group-wide regulatory compliance strategy across all subsidiaries
  • Strengthen the second-line compliance framework to enhance governance and risk oversight
  • Lead interpretation and implementation of regulatory requirements across multiple jurisdictions
  • Provide executive advisory support to CFCC leadership on emerging compliance and conduct risks
  • Oversee regulatory change management and ensure timely embedding into business processes
  • Develop and enhance compliance risk monitoring systems and early warning indicators
  • Drive enterprise compliance assurance programs including testing, reviews, and control validation
  • Establish and refine compliance performance metrics for executive and board reporting
  • Ensure regulatory obligations are accurately tracked through a centralized obligations register
  • Strengthen regulatory engagement strategy and maintain proactive supervisory relationships
  • Embed compliance requirements into product development and digital transformation initiatives
  • Oversee customer conduct, data privacy, consumer protection, and financial crime compliance frameworks
  • Lead enterprise-wide compliance training and capability development programs
  • Collaborate with risk, legal, audit, and business teams to strengthen governance integration
  • Ensure effective escalation frameworks for compliance risk identification and mitigation
  • Monitor geopolitical, regulatory, and industry developments impacting the Group
  • Drive continuous improvement of compliance frameworks aligned with global best practices

Qualifications & Requirements

  • Bachelor
  • Master
  • Professional certification such as CAMS, ICA, or equivalent compliance qualification
  • Deep expertise in regulatory compliance frameworks within financial services
  • Strong understanding of AML, CFT, sanctions, and financial crime governance
  • Advanced knowledge of regulatory risk management and enterprise controls
  • Strong leadership and executive communication capability
  • Ability to influence board
  • level and senior executive decision
  • making
  • High
  • level analytical, strategic thinking, and problem
  • solving skills
  • Strong stakeholder management across multi
  • country operations
  • Proven ability to build and lead high
  • performing compliance teams
  • Strong ethical judgment and governance leadership mindset

How to Apply

Interested candidates should submit their application through the official Equity Group Holdings recruitment channel. Applicants must ensure their CV highlights relevant compliance leadership experience, regulatory exposure, and professional certifications. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further assessment stages.

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