Compliance Governance Lead

Boost Holdings Sdn Bhd; Kuala Lumpur; On-site; MYR 350,000 - 700,000; Full time

Job summary

Boost Holdings Sdn Bhd in Malaysia seeks a senior leader to oversee Financial Crime Compliance, Transaction Monitoring Operations, Regulatory Compliance and ABAC. You will set standards, drive program implementation, and advise the Board and executives on money laundering, fraud, bribery and integrity risks.

You will build and lead a multi-disciplinary team, ensure regulatory alignment, and partner with regulators to uphold governance across the bank's financial crime and compliance functions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Law, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Professional accreditation such as ACAMS, AICB, or CeIO is advantageous.
• 10+ years in compliance, financial crime, fraud, or risk management within financial services; 5+ years in leadership.

Responsibilities

• Provide senior oversight across FCC, TM Operations, Regulatory Compliance and ABAC functions.
• Set standards and drive implementation of AML/CFT, sanctions, fraud controls.
• Lead independent reviews and risk assessments for AML/CFT and regulatory adherence.
• Oversee ABAC programme effectiveness, training, and policy governance.
• Collaborate with Board, CEO, and Management Committee on risk reporting and mitigation.
• Develop and manage a high-performing multi-disciplinary team and succession planning.

Skills

Leadership

AML/CFT

Transaction Monitoring

Regulatory Compliance

ABAC

Risk Management

Policy Development

Stakeholder Management

Governance

Team Building

Education

Bachelor's degree in Law/Finance/Business

ACAMS/AICB/CeIO accreditation (advantage)

Job description

To provide senior oversight and leadership across the Bank's Financial Crime Compliance (including Transaction Monitoring Operations), Regulatory Compliance, and Anti-Bribery & Anti-Corruption (ABAC) functions. The role sets standards and drives effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures to combat money laundering (ML), terrorist financing (TF), fraud, bribery and corruption, and to ensure the Bank's ongoing adherence to all applicable regulatory requirements. The role provides advisory and management support to the CCO, CEO, Management Committee, Board of Directors, and the Bank's stakeholders on financial crime, regulatory, and integrity risks, and leads a multi-disciplinary team spanning these three pillars.

Note: Quality Assurance/Compliance Assurance is intentionally excluded from this role's scope, as independent control testing should not sit under the same leadership as the functions being tested (FCC, Regulatory Compliance, ABAC), to preserve assurance independence.

NEED TO DO

1. Financial Crime Compliance (AML/CFT, Sanctions & Fraud) + Transaction Monitoring Operations

• Prevent enforcement or supervisory action from regulators through robust implementation of AML/CFT and sanctions standards.
• Establish and continuously refine the Bank's AML/CFT policy, including a risk-based approach to CDD, transaction monitoring, and suspicious activity reporting.
• Lead independent reviews across business units to assess adherence to AML/CFT policies, procedures, and controls.
• Facilitate a consolidated AML/CFT and fraud risk assessment for the Bank, and oversee remediation of identified gaps.
• Own the fraud risk management framework, including fraud prevention strategy, incident management/investigation, and fraud trend/modus operandi reporting.
• Act as the Bank's Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer, and as appointed Admin Checker for BNM's Financial Intelligence System.
• Provide operational leadership over the Transaction Monitoring (TM) function, including alert generation, triage, investigation, and disposition workflows.
• Set and monitor TM operational SLAs (alert clearance times, escalation timelines, STR/SAR filing timelines) and ensure adequate resourcing to meet volume demands.
• Oversee ongoing tuning and calibration of transaction monitoring scenarios/rules and thresholds to optimise detection effectiveness and reduce false positives.
• Adopt standards and guidance issued by FATF, BNM, Labuan FSA, SC, sanctions bodies, and other relevant regulators.

2. Regulatory Compliance

• Develop, implement and continuously monitor the Bank's overall compliance management programme, policies, and procedures in line with governance obligations.
• Provide regulatory and compliance oversight and engagement for the Bank, including regulatory advocacy, submissions, and licence/registration/renewal management.
• Represent the second line of defence, ensuring business strategies and initiatives comply with regulations and internal policies.
• Lead regulatory engagements, examinations and inspections, acting as senior liaison between the Bank, regulators, and law enforcement agencies.
• Provide regulatory and compliance advisory in the governance of the product/service life cycle, including conduct risk assessment in an agile environment.
• Ensure Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) remain current with the latest processes, policies, and regulatory guidelines.

3. Anti-Bribery & Anti-Corruption (ABAC)

• Ensure that \"adequate procedures\" are in place, pursuant to Section 17A of the MACC Act, to prevent staff and persons associated with the Bank from engaging in bribery and corruption practices.
• Own the operational effectiveness of the ABAC compliance programme, including policies and procedures, compliance awareness (consultation, communication, training), management of speak-up/whistleblowing intakes, programme monitoring, third-party compliance management, and case management.
• Conduct regular ABAC risk assessments to identify bribery and corruption risks and incidents that may impact the Bank and its subsidiaries, and formalise risk mitigation plans.
• Prepare, operationalise, coordinate, monitor and report the annual ABAC Plan, including the annual ABAC monitoring programme focused on high bribery/corruption risk areas.
• Review and update ABAC policies, procedures and guidelines; review ABAC risk assessments performed by subsidiaries, and monitor subsidiaries' execution of Group ABAC policies and guidance.
• Provide quarterly reporting to the Board Risk & Compliance Committee (BRCC)/Board of Directors on the state of ABAC compliance, risk assessments, and recommended corrective actions.
• Prepare and deliver annual ABAC training plans (general and targeted) for internal and external stakeholders.
• Promote, monitor and strengthen the anti-corruption and integrity compliance culture across the Bank and its subsidiaries.
• Act as Secretariat of the GDS Committee.
• Provide timely periodic reporting to the Management Committee and Board/Board Committees on the level of financial crime, regulatory, and integrity risks, and the strength and adequacy of controls implemented.
• Build, lead, and develop a team across FCC/TM Operations, Regulatory Compliance, and ABAC, ensuring role clarity, capability development, and succession readiness.
• Collaborate constructively with the independent QA/Compliance Assurance function to support timely closure of audit/testing findings across all three pillars.
• Other duties as assigned on an ad-hoc basis by the Chief Compliance Officer.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Law, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Professional accreditation such as Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (ACAMS), Certificate in Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism (AICB), or Certificate in Regulatory Compliance (AICB). Integrity/ABAC accreditation such as Certified Integrity Officer (CeIO) by MACC or Malaysian Institute of Integrity is an advantage.
• At least 8-10 years of progressive working experience in compliance, financial crime, fraud, or risk management within the financial services industry, including at least 5 years in a leadership role.
• Proven experience managing AML/CFT, fraud risk, transaction monitoring, and/or regulatory compliance functions; exposure to ABAC frameworks is highly advantageous.
• Wide exposure to local and global regulatory, sanctions, and financial crime requirements, particularly in a digital banking or fintech context.
• Strong leadership skills with proven ability to build, manage, and motivate teams in a fast-paced, startup-like environment.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the ability to constructively challenge and negotiate at senior levels, including with C-suite executives and the Board.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, including presenting complex risk matters clearly to non-specialist audiences.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, translating complex regulations into pragmatic, risk-based operational controls.
• Comfortable operating in a regulated, technology-driven business, with understanding of digital banking operations and associated financial crime/technology risks.
• High personal integrity and sound ethical judgement, essential given oversight of the Bank's ABAC and integrity functions.