Merchant Risk Manager

**The Mission**

The Merchant Risk Manager / Officer (MRO) is part of Worldline’s second line of defence, and its primary responsibility is to oversee the risk management framework governing merchant risk during the merchant lifecycle. The MRO actively contributes to ANZ Worldline’s Enterprise Risk Management efforts and is shaping with Senior Management the company’s Merchant Risk Strategy and Risk Appetite that will support a sustained business growth.

**The Role**

Under the responsibility of both ANZ Worldline’s Chief Risk & Compliance Officer (CRCO) and the Group Head of Merchant Risk, the MRO tackles merchant risk (credit, fraud, payment schemes, integrity) and ensures that the risk/reward balance is consistent with the company's strategy. The primary responsibility of the MRO is to contribute to the design of and oversee the Merchant Risk Policy Framework, as well as control its effective implementation within the organization and within the 1st line of defence. The MRO works closely with both internal and external stakeholders in establishing onboarding, underwriting and monitoring standards. The MRO partners with product teams, operations, data engineers and risk experts to plan, develop and deliver projects related to merchant risk from start to finish, including all stages of project identification, stakeholder engagement, project management, and closeout. The MRO contributes to the development of a risk-aware culture across the company.

**Responsibilities and Duties**

**Committees Governance & Merchant Risk Policies**
- Oversee the Merchant Risk Policy Framework within its scope of responsibility
- Contribute to the development and maintenance of the overarching merchant risk policies
- Control the effective implementation by the 1st line of defence of the overarching merchant risk policies
- Control the proper escalation to approval authorities for underwriting and acceptance decisions when required
- Review the materials prepared by Risk 1st line for the MS & Group Merchant Risk & Compliance Committees
- Risk appetite & Strategy
- Contribute to the development and update of the Merchant Risk Appetite Statement

**Methodologies & Risk analytics**
- Contribute to the development of a Joint Merchant Risk Scorecard to improve the efficiency of risk assessment during the on-boarding and on-going due diligence processes
- Take ownership of special projects/studies deemed necessary to manage and increase understanding of risk issues

**Risk identification & Measurement**
- Contribute to the definition of merchant risk monitoring standards and KPIs & KRIs at portfolio level
- Contribute to the definition of collateral/reserves requirements

**Reporting, Monitoring & Control**
- Contribute to the development of merchant risk steering and portfolio view
- Ensure that recurring and ad-hoc merchant risk reports meet quality standards and align in a timely manner with management needs
- Implement and perform controls and validations of the merchant risk process to ensure a high standard is met within the Underwriting & Risk Monitoring team and the first line of defence in general regarding risk assessment and monitoring

**Project management & Risk Data Management**
- Contribute to the documentation of the business requirements provided to IT solutions & project teams for the development of risk reporting & analytics solutions
- Contribute to the design, the implementation and the maintenance of the Risk Data Management solution that fully supports risk data aggregation capabilities, sound risk reporting & modelling practices and state-of-the-art data science capabilities
- Participate in data management initiatives regarding risk data (data quality, data governance, etc.)
- Management & Relations with key stakeholders
- Collaborate with the risk analytics experts to prepare reports that facilitate better understanding of risk
- Build trusted internal relationships with sales and account managers and help them understand the risks in their portfolios
- Ensure close collaboration with risk experts from first line of defence as well as with AML & Compliance officers when developing merchant risk policies and risk management tools & methodologies
- Support the first line of defence in the provision to staff of guidance and training on merchant risk policies and standards
- Build and maintain an excellent knowledge of products, services, and market characteristics
- Keep up to date with regulatory requirements

**Experience & Skills**
- Minimum 5 years’ experience gained in credit analysis or fraud detection
- Work experience in the payment services or banking industry a plus
- Excellent communication skills for interacting effectively with senior management, business lines, other risk management functions and external stakeholders
- Ability to work with operations teams to identify and assess the level of risk the organization is taking on and to propose actions to mitigate risks
- Takes personal