Head of Compliance - UK

Company Description

Wise is a global technology company, building the best way to move and manage the world’s money.

Min fees. Max ease. Full speed.

Whether people and businesses are sending money to another country, spending abroad, or making and receiving international payments, Wise is on a mission to make their lives easier and save them money.

As part of our team, you will be helping us create an entirely new network for the world's money.

For everyone, everywhere.

Job Description

More about our mission and what we offer .

Your Mission

You will play a critical role in strengthening our compliance frameworks in the UK which is one of Wise’s largest markets. This strategic position will focus on uplift and strategic enhancement of Wise’s compliance frameworks and controls, ensuring our continued compliance with UK regulations in a fast-paced fintech environment and supporting strategic growth initiatives in the UK market.

We’re looking for a Head of Compliance for the UK to support our UK Electronic Money Institution (EMI) and investment firm (Wise Assets UK) by providing regulatory compliance advice and objective check and challenge to enable Wise to scale its UK businesses compliantly.

Based in London you will work with a growing team of multidisciplinary specialists (Product, Product Compliance, Treasury, Banking, Security) to help build world class products in the UK. You’ll help manage and strengthen the team’s relationship with the UK FCA by having a clear overview of our regulatory requirements and how we meet them through our products, processes and controls. You’ll have ultimate responsibility for maintaining our UK regulatory authorisations and ensuring that these remain appropriate for our product offerings and features.

Your Role

• Lead a team of compliance professionals who advise the business on regulatory requirements related to our UK EMI and investment businesses, particularly the Payment Services Regulation, Electronic Money Regulation, MIFID or IFPR/MIFDIDPRU and applicable sections of the FCA handbook related to payment or investment firms.
• Be responsible for delivering the UK Compliance Oversight Programme and improve it in line with our mission to be instant, convenient, transparent and eventually free.
• Own, maintain and update existing UK compliance frameworks, policies and documentation and build these out to support new products, including our investment products.
• Develop systems to track and monitor our regulatory risk, compliance with regulatory requirements and internal policies.
• Build out and strengthen our existing control framework through implementing clear and auditable processes.
• Build trust with our regulators: manage and coordinate meaningful reporting internally and externally, respond to information requests, and proactively communicate product changes and notifiable events.
• Lead and strategically manage all UK regulatory audits and inspections, serving as the primary point of contact and subject matter expert for regulatory bodies.
• Take on and own new challenges that arise in any area of the compliance programme on a project basis. Take a problem-solving approach, whether designing a new process to be implemented or driving an effort for multiple teams to work together to meet new regulatory requirements.
• Work with teams across the business to educate them about the UK regulatory requirements, and empower teams to build risk-based processes which are clearly documented.
• Design and work with teams to implement and maintain management information (MI) that enables the leadership team and boards to make informed decisions and contribute to the Compliance framework.
• Oversee and maintain a healthy compliance culture throughout the organisation.
• Adapt your focus on different compliance issues depending on growth plans and compliance needs.

This Role Will Give You The Opportunity To

• Develop an in-depth knowledge of Wise’s business and get to know many teams across the company as you liaise with them to help them understand the regulatory framework and bring together the information that our regulators need.
• Help keep compliance right at the heart of our product developments and new initiatives by horizon-scanning for new regulatory developments and sharing these with the teams.

Qualifications

Our ideal candidate will have a background in financial regulation covering both payments and investment businesses, great communication and organisational skills, tons of motivation and positivity. More specifically, we’re looking for someone who can demonstrate they have these attributes:

• Theory. You are an expert in regulatory compliance having a background in financial regulation and a thorough knowledge of the regulations and rulebooks applying to payments institutions and investment firms.
• Practice. You have worked in a financial regulation advisory role or in a Compliance/legal team and have dealt with (or worked within) the UK FCA on a regular basis. You have demonstrable experience designing and challenging processes, ideally across multiple products.
• Passion. You get a kick out of improving current practices and processes and have the drive to apply different compliance strategies to develop multiple compliance frameworks. You have thought deeply about the Wise mission and how it intersects with compliance.
• Get the job done. You are a problem-solver. You have a sense of urgency and an ability to work well under pressure, prioritising, taking responsibility and working to tight deadlines.
• Communication. You’re a strong relationship builder across all levels of the business and externally. You lead by example and can demonstrate the Wise values in all your actions.
• Development. You’ve considered the challenges and development opportunities of working at a fast growing scale-up and are looking to get into FinTech or payments compliance.
• Travel. The role is London based, but many of our teams are located across different office locations. You’ll be ready to travel to meet your objectives.

Additional Information

For everyone, everywhere. We're people building money without borders — without judgement or prejudice, too. We believe teams are strongest when they are diverse, equitable and inclusive.

We're proud to have a truly international team, and we celebrate our differences.

Inclusive teams help us live our values and make sure every Wiser feels respected, empowered to contribute towards our mission and able to progress in their careers.