Role Description
The COO, ZA, has primary responsibility for these key business services:
This comprises the key business services that FNZ delivers to its customers. It requires a combination of:
The COO ZA role is responsible for ensuring that processes, controls, and operating risk framework in relation to these key business services are standardised globally. As FNZ's scale increases it also involves extracting cross-market synergies and other cost efficiencies. FNZ's customers should receive the benefit of a global scale provider of industrial strength operations.
Specific Role Responsibilities
Service and Support (Production Support, Client Services, Investor Services)
Ensuring that processes, controls, and operating risk framework in relation to these business services are standardised and consistently applied. As FNZ's scale increases it also involves extracting cross-market synergies and other cost efficiencies. FNZ's customers should receive the benefit of a global scale provider of industrial strength operations.
Manage regional operations and regional leadership teams; Implement the following on a standardised basis globally for areas of responsibility: Processes; Control framework; Operating risk management framework; Develop consistent global metrics to assess relative cost efficiency, controls, risk, service quality; Identify and implement improvements in customer service, cost, controls and risk through global collaboration and synergies; Ownership of production support (including operations & technology); Provide world class production support function in respect of FNZ globally; technology and operations delivery; Includes issue management and resolution (although resolution involving software change will occur within shared solution centres).
System and task Monitoring
Oversee the Service and Support team that carries out the morning health check of each platform. The health check results are distributed each morning by email to the organization. Daily failed task checks are automated and critical tasks are alerted where necessary.
Financial Crime
Responsibility for ensuring robust control frameworks are implemented and embedded across FNZ ZA to limit the risk of financial crime.
Business Continuity
Responsible for the effective management of the ZA Business Continuity Plan to minimise disruption and adverse impact for ZA customers, employees and ZA offices.
Pensions Administration
Responsibility for FNZ's outsourced pension administration function; Delivery of services at least in line with contractual customer KPIs; Delivery of service excellence via measurable continuous improvement programme; Implementation and maintenance of financial and operational controls to reduce errors and mitigate potential for fraud; Compliance with relevant legislation and regulation.
The COO will also be responsible for:
Financial performance
Work with regional ZA CFO and ZA CEO to define annual budget; Manage cost structure within budget; Balance service quality, risk management and control framework with the need to optimise cost structure; Maintain process-driven cost model to accurately forecast cost variation with volume.
Strategy
Define and agree (with ZA CEO) a strategic plan for relevant functions through annual and semi-annual strategic planning process; Input to regional strategy.
Leadership & collaboration
Provide strong leadership within the ZA COO function to promote and obtain collective buy-in to service excellence, risk management and controls; Collaborate with ZA & global leadership team to deliver group objectives.
Customer Interface
Actively engage and build relationships with all ZA customers; Take ownership with customers for FNZ's service delivery.
Operating Risk and Monitoring
Own the operating risk model that identifies and quantifies key operating risks; Oversight of operational monitoring. FNZ Operational teams carry out day to day tracking of their processes and escalate where appropriate for problems identified. Spearhead the creation of a more robust form of monitoring.
Change Governance
Gatekeeper responsibility for change releases to ensure they are fit for purpose and that appropriate due diligence has been carried out prior to launch. The following are considered change releases: New Platforms or new Propositions; Upgrades, amendments or enhancements to Existing Platforms or material changes to existing Propositions that involve a code release; Emergency Releases; Addition of New Clients onto Existing platforms, e.g. Multi-tenant platforms.
Production Services
Collaborate with regional leadership teams and implement the following on a standardised basis globally for areas of responsibility: Processes; Control framework; Operating risk management framework; Develop consistent global metrics to assess relative cost efficiency, controls, risk, service quality; Identify and implement improvements in customer service, cost, controls and risk through global collaboration and synergies.
Operating Model
Weekly ZA Leadership Team meeting; Weekly meeting with ZA leadership team; Update on key operational performance indicators, sales pipeline delivery, compliance issues, customer issues. Quarterly business review; Day long review of performance over prior quarter including financial performance and "road to value" objectives and plan for next quarter; Includes feedback on ZA CEO quarterly key-customer meetings; Attended by ZA CEO and regional leadership team. Annual budget; Budget is set semi-annually in Q2 and Q4 of each year for following 12-18 months; Multi-day process involving all of regional senior management team; Includes setting of medium-term value generation objectives encapsulated in a "road to value" plan.
FNZ ZA Board
Statutory director on the FNZ ZA board; Regular reporting and attendance in respect of operating performance, risks, issues and actions to mitigate.
Group Board Advisory Committee
Periodic presentations at group board advisory committee in respect of ZA business performance and strategic plan.
Technology shared services interface
ZA COO has direct ownership of all resources required to deliver customer servicing except for direct ownership of software delivery and ownership of the underlying technology platform; Software delivery and the technology platform is via the group technology shared services function, which should be managed like an outsourced software function.
Performance Assessment
Performance will be assessed in line with: Achievement of monthly, quarterly and annual financial targets set via budget; Achievement of non-financial objectives (service metrics, control and risk objectives); Quantitative customer KPIs; Qualitative customer feedback provided via quarterly ZA CEO customer meetings and annual board review meetings; Quantitative customer feedback via net promoter score (NPS); Qualitative feedback from direct reports via review process and group-wide staff surveys. Formal feedback will be provided through: Quarterly business review process; Annual performance review.