Director, Risk - Singapore & Malaysia

Team Summary

Visa owns the most recognizable global brand in the financial services industry. Maintaining trust in that brand and differentiating Visa from competitors is crucial. Risk management is emerging as one of the key pillars of Visa’s strategy of Championing Security and Deepening Partnerships. With in-market ownership of this strategy, the Risk function plays a critical role to support the enterprise and operational risk activities of the company.

What a Risk Director does at Visa:

Reporting to the Head of Risk, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand (SMT), this role will be entrusted with a broad portfolio of responsibilities including Strategic Risk Management, Ecosystem Risk (Fraud & Data Security) and Corporate Risk across Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei.

The successful candidate must also collaborate effectively with the in-market Leadership Team and hub or global functions including Global Technology, Global Product & Solutions, Government Engagement, Corporate Relations, Client Services and Merchant Solutions & Acquiring.

This role will develop security priorities and execute strategies to prevent fraud, enhance user authentication, safeguard sensitive data, identify and respond to data breaches and prevent the misuse of the payment system for unlawful purposes. This role will also be responsible for representing Visa’s Credit Settlement Risk policy to protect Visa against financial loss in the case of a failure of an issuer or acquirer. The role will also consult with our clients in Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei to mitigate risks and innovate responsibly.
 

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a comprehensive risk plan that is consistent with local market landscape, market priorities and global risk strategy.
  • As a member of the in-market leadership team, serve as a trusted and strategic advisor to the Country Manager on all risk issues
  • Execute both internal and external risk management programs
  • Lead client forums (security summit, Risk Executive Councils, working groups, etc.)
  • Promote and support client adoption of Visa risk products or solutions and initiatives.
     

• Manage relationships with issuers, acquirers, merchants, payment processors, service providers, regulators and law enforcement to:
  • Identify opportunities to enhance the payment ecosystem and advance risk management best practice
  • Develop constructive relationships with local market regulators and law enforcement agencies
  • Resolve fraud & data breach events
  • Provide stakeholder training
• Lead the responsible innovation initiative with Visa’s clients to mitigate risks and embrace new technology improvements.
  • Assess emerging/innovation risks and new business models
  • Leverage local insights to contribute to Risk thought leadership
  • Guide clients through payment innovation complexity
• Prepare reports, briefings and other written products to update executive management on risk activities, issues and opportunities.
  • Convey risk-related trends and developments to local country manager and leadership team through regular reporting
  • Synthesize marketplace feedback regarding the effectiveness of Visa’s risk management strategy and programs or benchmark Visa’s performance relative to other payment networks and participants
  • Guide Visa’s proactive risk communications and collaboration across all of these stakeholders so as to advance the safety, security and long-term growth of the Visa payment system

Why this is important to Visa:

As a key member of the market leadership team, this role will advise the Country Manager, the market leadership team and hub as well as global functional leads on strategies related to complex operational, financial, legal and regulatory risk exposures.

In addition to overseeing Strategic Risk Management, the Risk Director will be responsible for maintaining the integrity of the payments ecosystem which includes card issuers and merchant acquirers, merchants, cardholders, and service providers such as processors, device manufacturers, and payment gateways.
 

The Risk Director will play an important role in shaping Visa’s enterprise and operational risk strategies during a period of rapid innovation in the payments industry. The individual will be a catalyst for transforming Visa’s risk strategy and solutions for card issuers, merchant acquirers and merchants, with the end goal of championing payments security and forging deeper client relationships.

What you will need:

The ideal candidate is a seasoned senior payments fraud and corporate risk professional with 12+ years of experience.

Candidates with payments experience, especially in payments fraud/risk within networks, processors, financial institutions are preferred.

Relevant Industry Exposure

• Demonstrated approach to payments fraud risk management contributing to brand and business growth
• Track record for successfully identifying and mitigating enterprise and operational risk for a complex, global company in a regulated industry
• Strong personal base of knowledge with respect to payments risk management, industry practices, trends, and issues

Deep Collaboration and Communication Skills

• Proven ability to pro-actively influence, collaborate, and work in matrix environment across all levels and functions of the business
• Collaborates seamlessly cross-functionally to deliver insights that drive key business strategies and decisions
• Works in tandem with clients and external stakeholders for the benefit of the ecosystem – financial institutions, processors, fintechs, regulators, and other industry stakeholders

• A high degree of self-confidence, humility and energy essential to succeed in a fast paced and evolving industry

Results Driven Execution Approach

• Intellectually curious; finds stories in the data, asks the right questions, demonstrated track record of mining data and intelligence for game-changing insights that generate big impacts
• Gets things done; relentlessly focuses on results; aligns efforts with business objectives
• Decides quickly and moves fast, not afraid to fail fast when required

Multinational Experience and Top-Tier Education Background

• Global and deep knowledge of the payments industry and the major trends affecting the major stakeholders
• Extensive international experience or work experience in a multinational corporation preferred
• Undergraduate degree from top-tier institution required. Graduate degree with a focus on general management will be preferred

Visa is an EEO Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.