Senior Manager, Risk & Compliance

at  Federation of Canadian Municipalities

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) is the national voice of municipal governments, representing the interests of cities and communities with the federal government.

YOUR SKILLS MAKE US BETTER

You bring:

EDUCATION:

• University degree in Business, Finance, or Accounting. MBA or a master’s degree is considered an asset.

EXPERIENCE:

• A minimum of 10+ years of progressive experience in risk management on the credit risk/lending side, including 5 years in a leadership role in a business environment, preferably in the banking, development and/or non-profit sector.

KNOWLEDGE:

• In-depth knowledge of lending processes and products, credit risks and mitigation techniques, policy and practices.
• Awareness of the financial and business marketplace, laws and regulations and risk issues affecting the financial services industry, with particular focus on proactive management of current and future potential issues impacting on lending and credit risks of businesses, including reputational risks.
• Possess strong analytical and problem-solving skills, and demonstrated knowledge in credit, market risk and operational risk measurement and management arising from GMF’s lending activities.
• Possess strong communication, presentation and technical writing skills to describe ideas, concepts and issues that involve interpretation, analysis and assessment of complex conceptual topics.
• Possess a self-starting attitude, an ability to think outside the box and thrives on new challenges.

YOU IN THIS ROLE

The Senior Manager, Risk and Compliance brings advanced knowledge of lending structures, risk management (especially credit risk), loss control principles, FINTRAC experience and best practices to the Green Municipal Fund (GMF). The position also supports the development of tools and resources and the enhancement of processes, including training and monitoring in major risk areas.
Regarding GMF’s lending activities, this role is responsible for the second line of defense activities for enterprise risk management (ERM) and regulatory compliance by identifying, assessing, measuring, and monitoring risks inherent to our lending activities and the controls in place to manage them. The incumbent will provide detailed analytics, facilitate effective communication and consultation processes, proactively identify emerging risks, and deliver insightful reports on credit risk assessments to GMF Management, encompassing credit, market, and operational risks. The incumbent will drive the implementation of strategies to mitigate risks and minimize losses, both at the individual loan level and across the entire loan portfolio.
This role is accountable for overseeing a substantial loan portfolio totaling $739M, while also ensuring the maintenance of a minimum fund balance of $1.0875B. Operating at the second line of defense level, this position is pivotal in developing, recommending, and maintaining corporate risk policies, Anti-Money-Laundering compliance program and standards relating to lending activities. Moreover, the incumbent actively contributes to governance and oversight efforts concerning GMF’s credit risk policies. This involves ensuring coherence, fostering standardization, and effectively managing workout scenarios. Additionally, alignment across credit, market, and operational risk policies is a key focus area.
Furthermore, this role involves active participation in and presentation to various committees, including the Investment Committee and GMF’s Management Risk Committee, facilitating strategic decision-making and ensuring alignment with organizational objectives and risk management priorities.
Given FCM’s mandate as a not-for-profit organization, and GMF’s mandate to fund municipal projects with strong environmental benefits, the incumbent should, in carrying out this role, balance development objectives with key risk and financial realities, to ensure that the Fund achieves its objectives while maintaining financial sustainability over time.

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING

• Provides strong direction to GMF in terms of management of credit and related risks.
• Acts in second line of defense position to review loan underwriting, credit risk rating methodologies and Loan credit write-ups to ensure material risks are identified and endorsed prior to review by Risk or Investment Committee as relevant.
• Provides or recommends corrective action on problem accounts, as appropriate and manages workout scenarios.
• Develops and maintains lending risk policies, procedures, and standards to meet or exceed sound risk management practices.
• Maintains risk management standards through identification of key risk controls, key risk indicators, and measurement and reporting of tangible risks affecting the organization arising from lending activities.
• Works jointly with all GMF related business units to articulate lending policies & procedures, standards, and risk-management guidelines, keeping abreast of any changes.
• Lead the calculation of key risk metrics including the Excess and Total Capital Adequacy Ratios, Mandate Capacity for the year.
• Provides Risk Management reporting such as quarterly risk dashboard to relevant management, GMF Council and Investment committee.
• Provides leadership in Risk and Compliance and ensures credit risk ratings are appropriate and reserves are in line with expected losses.
• Act as the Compliance Officer under FCM’s AML Compliance Policy.
• Develops and maintains FCM’s compliance program regarding FINTRAC regulation.
• Promotes the adoption and implementation of sound forward-looking risk and credit practices across GMF’s operations.
• Engages actively with external consultants/advisors on matters relating to GMF lending activity risk management regarding, inter alia, loan transactions, portfolio considerations, lending related fund and sustainability issues, legal and compliance matters.