Senior Manager, Investigations and Regulatory Reporting

Join a Challenger

Being a traditional bank just isn't our thing. We are big believers in innovating the banking experience because we believe Canadians deserve better options, and we challenge ourselves and our teams to creatively transform what's possible in banking.

Our team is made up of inquisitive and agile minds that find smarter ways of doing things. If you're not afraid of taking on big challenges and redefining the future, you belong with us.

You'll get to work with people who will encourage you to reach new heights. We like to keep things fun, ask questions and learn together.

We are a big (and growing!) family. Overall we serve more than 670,000 people across Canada through Equitable Bank, Canada's Challenger Bank™, and have been around for more than 50 years.

Equitable Bank's wholly-owned subsidiary, Concentra Bank, supports credit unions across Canada that serve more than six million members.

Together we have over $125 billion in combined assets under management and administration, with a clear mandate to drive change in Canadian banking to enrich people's lives.

Our customers have named our EQ Bank digital platform (eqbank.ca) one of the top banks in Canada on the Forbes World's Best Banks list since 2021.

The Work

The incumbent will play a key role in supporting the Bank's Complaint Handling Program and with supporting the regulatory reporting requirements to regulator(s) that apply to the Bank and ensure compliance with applicable federal consumer protection laws, regulations, and best practices.

The role will provide the opportunity to apply critical thinking, analytical and problem-solving skills and be relied upon to have excellent written communications skills.

The Core Responsibilities Of The Job :

• Complaint Handling Program
• Conduct in-depth investigation of escalated complaints to Equitable's Dispute Resolution Office (DRO), the third and final step in the Bank's complaint handling process, as well as escalated seniors concerns to the Bank's Seniors Champion, and complaints received from the Bank's external complaints body.

Draft detailed customer and regulatory communications for review.

• Manage the daily in-depth and prompt review and tracking of customer complaints and requests and respective responses in the DRO inbox, including the transfer of such to the appropriate line of business for handling.
• Conduct regular internal monitoring of the Bank's complaints database and identified issues, including resolution to closure and escalation to Business Unit Management, as per the Bank's Customer Complaint Handling Procedures.
• Help to identify trends and / or gaps across businesses arising from investigations and report findings with recommendations on how to improve the effectiveness of first line controls and work with the business units to develop corrective actions.
• Provide advisory support to the front-line business on the complaint handling process, including accurately completing complaint records in the complaints database, communications, and specialized training.

Regulatory Reporting

Review, investigate and evaluate potential compliance issues to determine whether they are reportable to the FCAC, the federal regulator.

Work with applicable Business Units to investigate and resolve such issues and assist in drafting any communications to customers and regulator, as well as, tracking issues and action plans to completion.

Assist in drafting and submitting reports / communications to regulator(s) related to reportable complaints, compliance issues, and any other regular and / or ad-hoc regulatory reporting required by consumer provisions, voluntary codes of conduct and public commitments, the FCAC Regulatory Reporting Guide for Banks and the FCAC Supervisory Framework, as necessary, and within applicable deadlines.

This may include public complaints reporting, Seniors Code reporting, market data gathering reporting, among many others.

Prepare reports to the Board on consumer provision information related to the Bank's complaint handling program and compliance with applicable federal consumer protection laws, regulations, and best practices.

Canadian Banking Compliance

• Maintain, revise, and / or draft and implement internal policies, procedures, control documents, reports and tools as required for compliance with applicable consumer and / or complaint handling legislation and regulatory requirements.
• Manage the applicable consumer-related Compliance training (including Complaints, Seniors Code etc.) for new employees as well as annual training and awareness for all employees and monitor and track employee attendance and test scores related to training.

Update and / or draft other specialized training, and manage implementation process to the Bank's training portal, when required.

• Support Director in providing subject matter expertise to Business Units on consumer legislation relating to complaints and other requirements, reviewing customer-facing documentation including marketing material to ensure compliance with applicable legislation, when required.
• Monitor and evaluate emerging legislation and regulator guidelines, as well as industry trends and developments as they relate to regulatory consumer issues and provide concise summaries to Director / CCO.
• Assist the Director in developing / revising any other consumer-related documents / material / training / communications as required by new regulatory requirements or regulator expectations or guidelines.

Let's Talk About You!

• Undergraduate degree in Business, Finance, Law, or related field / professional certification.
• Minimum of 8 years of compliance-related experience in a federally regulated financial institution, particularly in federal consumer protection laws, regulations, and best practices.
• Strong knowledge of all lines of business and functional departments and experience with a variety of financial products and services, within a federally regulated financial institution.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to thoroughly investigate complaints and compliance issues, with demonstrated ability to make appropriate and effective recommendations.
• Demonstrated complaint handling experience.
• Meticulous organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with ability to communicate effectively to varied internal and external audiences in particular as it relates to regulatory requirements and their impacts.
• Experience in drafting policies and procedures including training.
• Good knowledge of regulatory legislation including with consumer provisions under the Bank Act and Trust and Loans Companies Act and accompanying Financial Consumer Protection Framework Regulations (SQR / 2021-181), FCAC Guidance, expectations and best practices, and voluntary codes of conduct and public commitments.
• Ability to identify potential breaches of regulatory requirements and to communicate the facets of regulatory and / or consumer legislation and guidelines to various stakeholders.
• Well organized, detail-oriented self-starter, comfortable functioning in a complex environment, managing multiple priorities within deadlines, and able to collaborate with various internal and external stakeholders.
• Excellent interpersonal skills. Must be able to establish and maintain rapport with internal and external partners, regulators, auditors, management, and employees.
• Actively demonstrate mindful personal behaviour to consistently produce good, ethical outcomes.
• Continue to independently develop and maintain broad knowledge and awareness of the financial industry, risk management practices and regulatory and / or policy changes.
• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint).

Job Complexities / Thinking Challenges

• Adept at gathering information from multiple sources, identifying gaps and potential improvements and collaborating with the business units to develop solutions
• Advanced analytical thinking skills to identify and resolve issues of moderate to high complexity with minimal guidance, correctly interpret multifaceted, abstract issues and situations, use sound judgment, and provide practical recommendations to resolve a dispute.
• Ability to independently understand the Bank's processes and to assess potential non-compliance of regulatory requirements and identify individual and systemic issues.
• Highly developed communication skills, both written and verbal, for communicating with internal and external stakeholders;

ability to synthesize complex information in a clear, concise manner; ability to present information in a factual and objective manner.

• Strong interpersonal skills with a proven ability to develop relationships and ability to deal effectively with sensitive and complex issues combined
• Ability to prioritize as well as respond to deadlines
• Ability to work independently, with minimum supervision and perform under pressure and within tight time constraints; and
• Accountability :
• Act as an authority on complaint management including investigations and reporting.
• Support the Compliance Department as an authority on regulatory compliance-related regulations and industry best practices.
• Maintain a current understanding of complaint requirements, including policies, procedures, regulations, industry best practices, and identifying trends to provide support and direction to business units and to effectively manage and mitigate risk and comply with regulatory expectations and industry standards.
• Maintain a high level of integrity at all times and conduct investigations in an objective and unbiased manner.

What we offer For full-time permanent roles

Competitive discretionary bonus

Market leading RRSP match program

Medical, dental, vision, life, and disability benefits

Employee Share Purchase Plan

Maternity / Parental top-up while you care for your little one

Generous vacation policy, personal days and even a moving day

Virtual events to connect with your fellow colleagues

Annual professional development allowance and a comprehensive Career Development program

A fulfilling opportunity to join one of the top FinTechs and help create a new kind of banking experience

The incumbent will be working hybrid and in office time will be spent working from Equitable Bank's additional office space located at 351 King Street East, Toronto, ON.

Equitable Bank is deeply committed to inclusion. Our organization is stronger and our employees thrive when we honour and celebrate everyone's diverse experiences and perspectives.

In tandem with that commitment, we support and encourage our staff to grow not just in their career path, but personally as well.

We commit to providing a barrier-free recruitment process and work environment for all applicants. Please let us know of any accommodations needed so that you can bring your best self to the application process and beyond.

All candidates considered for hire must successfully pass a criminal background check and credit check to qualify for hire.

While we appreciate your interest in applying, an Equitable recruiter will only contact leading candidates whose skills and qualifications closely match the requirements of the position.

We can't wait to get to know you!