Associate Director, Payments

Standard Chartered India; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 2,500,000 - 4,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Standard Chartered in Bengaluru is seeking a senior specialist to oversee cross-border payments and FEMA advisory and transaction governance. The role ensures transactions are processed accurately, within timelines, and in compliance with RBI directions and internal controls.

You will interpret regulations, assess transaction structures, and engage stakeholders across Compliance, Legal, Product and Operations to drive risk management and governance.

Qualifications

• Cross border Payments Processing and FEMA knowledge.
• Regulatory risk assessment and transaction structuring.
• Strong English communication and documentation skills.

Responsibilities

• Interpret FEMA, current account rules, capital account regulations, RBI Master Directions, notices and circulars, and translate them into operational guidance.
• Review transaction documents and regulatory submissions with appropriate controls.
• Prepare RBI representations and coordinate with Compliance, Legal, Product, Business and Operations to obtain timely decisions.
• Deliver training on FEMA requirements and emerging regulatory changes.

Skills

Cross border Payments Processing

Current and capital account – FEMA

Regulatory Risk Assessment and Tran s-

Tools

MS Office

Job description

• Manage and oversee business-as-usual cross-border payment activities, ensuring transactions are processed accurately, within agreed timelines and in compliance with FEMA, RBI directions, internal policies and applicable control standards.
• Provide advisory and transactional guidance on current and capital account matters under FEMA
• Strengthen regulatory compliance, client experience and execution certainty through practical interpretation, risk-based decision-making, effective stakeholder engagement and well-documented governance.

Job Summary

Role Purpose

• Manage and oversee business-as-usual cross-border payment activities, ensuring transactions are processed accurately, within agreed timelines and in compliance with FEMA, RBI directions, internal policies and applicable control standards.
• Provide advisory and transactional guidance on current and capital account matters under FEMA
• Strengthen regulatory compliance, client experience and execution certainty through practical interpretation, risk-based decision-making, effective stakeholder engagement and well-documented governance.

Key Responsibilities

Processes

FEMA Advisory and Transaction Governance

• Interpret FEMA, current account rules, capital account regulations, RBI Master Directions, notifications and circulars, and translate them into clear operational guidance.
• Perform regulatory do-ability assessments and advise on transaction structuring, permitted routes, limits, approvals, documentation, account usage, purpose codes and post-transaction obligations.
• Review complex or exceptional cases, historical non-compliances and regularisation matters; determine escalation, late submission fee, compounding or RBI approval requirements.
• Review transaction documents, applications, declarations, agreements and regulatory submissions with appropriate maker-checker and audit-evidence controls.

Regulatory Reporting and Regulator Engagement

• Working knowledge of FIRMS, , OID, ECB and other applicable RBI reporting platforms is desirable.
• Experience in reporting’s such as FC-GPR, FC-TRS, LLP(I)/(II), DI, CN, ESOP, InVI, ECB, ODI, APR, FLA, R-Return, LRS and other cross-border regulatory returns will be an added advantage.
• Analyse and reconcile source data, validate transaction classification and purpose codes, respond to regulatory queries and maintain complete evidence trails.
• Prepare and review applications, representations and responses to RBI; engage with Compliance, Legal, Product, Business and Operations to obtain timely decisions.
• Monitor regulatory developments and ensure prompt impact assessment, process updates, stakeholder communication and implementation.

Risk and Governance

• Identify regulatory, conduct, operational and reputational risks and define proportionate controls, escalation triggers and residual-risk treatment.
• Support audits, compliance reviews, regulatory inspections and remediation of identified gaps.
• Maintain policies, operating instructions, checklists, templates, ready reckoners and knowledge repositories aligned to extant regulations.
• Deliver training to Relationship Managers, Product, Operations and clients on FEMA requirements and emerging regulatory changes.

Risk Management

• Ensure 100% compliance at all times to the group’s risk management framework as applicable

Governance

• Comply with all the group standards, policies, procedures and guidelines as applicable and values of the Bank at all times.
• Adhere to Group Code of Conduct at all times.
• Ensure compliance to the group’s risk management framework as applicable.

Key Stakeholders

• Reserve Bank of India, Compliance, Legal, Cross-Border Payments, Trade Operations, Product, Relationship Management, Treasury, Finance, Technology, Data and Regulatory Reporting teams

Skills And Experience

Must-have Skills

• Cross border Payments Processing
• Current and capital account – FEMA
• Regulatory Risk Assessment and Transaction Structuring

Other Skills

• Data Analysis, Reconciliation and Control Governance
• Policy, Process and Documentation Management
• Spoken and Written Communication

Qualifications

• Minimum 10 year's relevant experience in any Banking operations
• Minimum 5 years’ experience of cross border operations
• Sound understanding of transaction documentation, KYC/AML and sanctions interfaces, purpose-code selection, approval routes and regulatory timelines.
• Good verbal & written English communication
• Proficient in PC skills, particularly MS Office
• Good management and interpersonal skills
• Problem solving / Trouble shooting skills
• Ability to identify, mitigate and eliminate risks in processes.

About Standard Chartered

We're an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 170 years, we've worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you're looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents and we can't wait to see the talents you can bring us.

Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you'll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion.

Together We

• Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do
• Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well
• Are better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term

What We Offer

In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.

• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
• Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning.
• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies - everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.