Senior Compliance Officer, Regulatory Complaints

BMO•Toronto, ON

About The Position

This role is responsible for assessing and responding to a wide variety of regulatory complaints within established timelines. The Senior Compliance Officer will liaise directly with customers, business line staff, and internal/external partners to address concerns. The position involves providing advice and guidance on implementing solutions aligned with regulatory risk appetite, consulting on new products and services to incorporate compliance requirements, and influencing effective regulatory compliance controls. The role also involves identifying and advising on emerging issues and trends, determining business priorities, building professional relationships with stakeholders and regulators, and analyzing compliance data. Additionally, the Senior Compliance Officer will oversee the development and maintenance of guidelines and procedures, conduct and challenge risk assessments and monitoring/testing activities, support root cause analysis, and oversee the resolution of issues. The role requires maintaining a high level of expertise in applicable regulations and providing input on emerging risks and regulatory interpretations. The Senior Compliance Officer will also advise first line of defense management and employees, ascertain training needs, identify enhancements to compliance tools and processes, and assist in communicating and implementing changes to policies and procedures. The role represents the Compliance team during audits and examinations, provides regulatory perspective on sales and marketing materials, and anticipates/identifies risks and compliance gaps. The position operates effectively in a high-stress environment with changing expectations and regulatory scrutiny, accesses and reports on sensitive information, and communicates the roles of the three lines of defense. The focus is primarily on a specific business/group but may have a broader enterprise-wide focus. The role provides specialized consulting, analytical, and technical support, exercises judgment to solve problems, and works independently.

Requirements

Typically minimum of 6 years of relevant experience and post-secondary degree in related field of study or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Detailed knowledge of consumer protection regulations and related marketing and advertising guidelines.
Skilled knowledge of regulatory/ compliance requirements and the operations of a single client group.
May require experience at regulatory body for one or more compliance area(s).
Strong communication, critical thinking, relationship management and project management skills.
Deep knowledge and technical proficiency gained through extensive education and business experience.
Verbal & written communication skills - In-depth.
Collaboration & team skills - In-depth.
Analytical and problem solving skills - In-depth.
Influence skills - In-depth.
Data driven decision making - In-depth.

Nice To Haves

Bilingual in English / French is considered an asset
Recognized compliance certificate or equivalent preferred.

Responsibilities

Assists in the implementation, maintenance and administration of a specific compliance program.
Coordinates and performs risk assessment, monitoring, testing and surveillance activities to ensure program remains current and aligned with BMO Compliance Program.
Works with business/group and internal partners to ensure regulatory, corporate and fiduciary obligations are met.
Advises business/group on implications of new regulatory developments or internal products, and assists to implement new/revised policies and programs to address them.
Identifies risks and implements appropriate actions to mitigate them.
Develops and maintains compliance information for analysis and reporting.
Achieves compliance goals by maintaining current knowledge of regulatory requirements and developments.
Maintains functional and regulatory expertise specific to business group, and refers to Compliance Policies & Procedures manuals for requirements.
Contributes to business/group results by providing oversight and making recommendations that significantly impact the Bank’s ability to monitor regulatory compliance programs, minimize operational risk and align with regulatory agencies.
Thoroughly and critically assess and respond to a wide variety of regulatory complaints – within the timelines established by management and regulatory agencies – in a clear, customer-friendly manner. This includes liaising directly with customers in respect of their concerns, as well as LOB staff and internal and external partners.
Provides advice and guidance to assigned business/group on implementation of solutions aligned to regulatory risk appetite based on an understanding of business operations and stakeholder needs.
Consults on new products, services and automated systems to assist with incorporating compliance requirements into these initiatives.
Influences to achieve effective regulatory compliance controls that enable business objectives.
Identifies and advises on emerging issues and trends to inform decision-making.
Helps determine business priorities and best sequence for execution of business/group strategy.
Builds effective professional relationships with business group, internal/external stakeholders and trust with regulators.
Analyses and reports on compliance data, and related data to gain insights on regulatory risk.
Oversees the development and maintenance of guidelines and procedures, providing advice/rulings as necessary, for a single function within a geographic area.
Participates in the design, implementation and management of core business/group processes.
Conducts and/or effectively challenges risk assessments for business/group and assists to identify more effective compliance controls.
Performs and/or effectively challenges monitoring and testing activities to ensure regulatory compliance controls are operating and aligned to regulatory requirements.
Supports root cause analysis in response to material control failures in business/group.
Identifies, assesses, effectively challenges and oversees the satisfactory resolution of issues, including ensuring adequate management remediation plans and validation.
Elevates high profile issues/risk cases to Compliance and business/group management for prompt resolution.
Analyzes and reports compliance information to Compliance and business/group management.
Develops and maintains a high level of expertise in all regulations, directives and guidance which apply to the group(s) supported.
Provides input to business/group on emerging risks, regulatory developments and interpretation of regulations.
Advises first line of defense management and employees on compliance matters.
Ascertains training needs and helps develop training based on gaps identified through the compliance monitoring and testing.
Identifies enhancements to business group compliance tools and processes and communicates to required stakeholders.
Assists business group management in communicating and implementing changes to applicable regulatory policies and procedures.
Represents the business/group Compliance team and interacts with examiners/auditors during internal, external and regulatory audits and examinations.
Provides regulatory perspective on business group’s sales and marketing materials.
Anticipates/ identifies and analyses risk and consequences of unaddressed risk factors/ compliance gaps, and recommends appropriate controls.
Builds effective professional relationships with business/groups.
Operates effectively within a high stress environment with constantly changing expectations and regulatory & audit scrutiny.
Accesses, monitors and reports on sensitive Bank, customer, transactional and employee information to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.
Communicates the roles and importance of each of the three lines of defense, and proactively identifies regulatory risk.
Provides specialized consulting, analytical and technical support.
Exercises judgment to identify, diagnose, and solve problems within given rules.
Works independently and regularly handles non-routine situations.
Broader work or accountabilities may be assigned as needed.