About Absa Group Limited

Absa Group Limited is a major pan-African financial services conglomerate headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. Listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE: ABG), it is one of the largest diversified financial groups on the continent, serving millions of customers through retail, business, corporate, and investment banking, as well as insurance and wealth management.

Job Overview

Absa Group is seeking an experienced and visionary leader to drive payment operations across our African Regional Operations. This is a high-impact role responsible for ensuring operational excellence, regulatory compliance, and strategic alignment across multiple jurisdictions.

Minimum Requirement

• Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Business, Commerce and Management Studies
• Diploma with 15+ years in a senior role in payments and payment operations.
• Undergraduate degree with 10+ years of experience in payments and payment operations

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Work closely with 1st and 2nd line defence functions and internal audit to ensure payment operations are independently validated and compliant with all relevant norms and regulations.
2. Create and maintain a robust network to support Centre oversight and supervision across all ARO entities.
3. Establish and lead payment operations governance forums to ensure transparency, accountability, and alignment with broader business conduct requirements.
4. Provide assurance that South Africa’s prudential requirements are upheld and that ARO payment operations do not contribute to any deterioration in compliance.
5. Represent ARO countries at the Centre on all matters related to payment processing—including change initiatives, compliance, strategic alignment, risk events, and audit findings.
6. Facilitate visibility of compliance, risk, performance indicators, and strategic alignment with both bank and ecosystem requirements.
7. Lead the implementation of the Payments & Reporting Centre of Excellence (P&R COE) across ARO countries, ensuring alignment with domestic, regional, pan-African, and international standards.

Experience

1. 7–10 years of payment operations experience across the African continent.
2. 5+ years of experience in national, regional, and cross-border payment ecosystems.
3. Deep understanding of regulatory requirements impacting domestic and international payments.
4. Strong knowledge of risk and compliance governance.
5. Experience managing Head Office oversight of payment operations across multiple jurisdictions.