IG - Quality Assurance Specialist

BNP PARIBAS

BNP Paribas is an international bank with leading positions in the European market. It is present in 74 countries and employs more than 192,000 people, 146,000 of whom are in Europe. The Group holds key positions in its three main areas of activity: Domestic Markets and International Financial Services (whose retail banking and financial services network is part of Retail Banking & Services), as well as Corporate & Institutional Banking, which offers services to corporate and institutional clients. The Group supports its customers (individuals, entrepreneurs, SMEs, large companies and institutions) to help them carrying out their projects by providing financing, investment, savings and insurance services.

In Europe, the Group has four domestic markets (Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg) and BNP Paribas Personal Finance is number one in retail financing in Europe. 

BNP Paribas is developing its integrated retail banking model in the Mediterranean countries, Turkey, Eastern Europe and has an important network on the US West Coast. In both its Corporate & Institutional Banking and International Financial Services activities, BNP Paribas has leading positions in Europe, a strong presence in the Americas and a solid and growing network in the Asia-Pacific region.

BNP Paribas Corporate & Institutional Banking provides large companies, multinationals and financial institutions with various solutions in the areas of advisory, financing, transactional banking, capital markets, settlement, clearing and custody of securities, asset and fund management services and solutions for corporate issuers. It has 620 professionals in Spain with offices in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Coruña. The entity has a network present in 56 countries.
 
MISSION

The Inspection Generale Quality Assurance Specialist is a member of the Inspection Generale Quality Assurance team (“QA”), a global team working across the IG footprint.

The Inspection Generale Quality Assurance team serves to provide reasonable assurance to stakeholders of internal audit activity performed globally. In fulfilling this responsibility, it is QA’s mission to create added value and improve the way the organization functions by upholding audit quality and the pursuit of continuous improvement. In addition, we aim to provide the BNP Paribas Inspection Générale (“IG”) management, as well as other stakeholder’s, insights into the effectiveness of IG in achieving its performance objectives, including its conformance with relevant standards (both internal and external and including applicable laws and regulations).

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Quality Assurance professional will perform internal Quality Assurance reviews of assignments which provide audit coverage across the BNP Paribas Inspection Generale Function, including all Hubs and Domains. The Quality Assurance Review team will play a key role in providing reasonable assurance to stakeholders of internal audit activity on the achievement of its performance objectives, including its conformance with relevant standards (both internal and external and including applicable laws and regulations).

A strong background in audit techniques, documentation, and testing practices, or consulting for Financial Services is a key requirement for this position. 

The role will report to the Head of Inspection Generale Quality Assurance functionally and the Head of the Iberian Hub administratively. The role will be located either in Madrid or Lisbon and the candidate will work collaboratively with other quality assurance professionals located across various locations in IG.

Specific Responsibilities include:

 Perform quality assurance reviews to assess accurate and consistent adherence to IG’s Audit Methodology, IIA Standards, relevant regulatory expectations and IG Policies and Procedures.

• Determine if audits identify and assess governance, risks and controls that adequately address the business environment.
• Evaluate if audits clearly identify relevant laws, regulations, and industry best practices covered.
• Review audit related documentation, including risk assessments, Work Program Memos, audit workpapers, and audit reports.
• Performs QA over IG validation of remediation activities performed by the Bank or IG either in response to regulatory or IG related recommendations.
• Performs QA over central IG processes includes methodology and tools.
• Identifies lessons learned from regulatory recommendations issued to the Bank and to IG by performing, coordinating or assisting in the preparation of post-mortems for continuous improvement purposes.
• Write quality assurance review reports, including compliant and non-compliant attributes.
• Identify improvement opportunities, offer specific actionable recommendations, and provide feedback to the audit teams (collectively and/or individually) to improve their performance and execution of audits.
• Monitor the quality of audit execution and documentation across audit teams.
• Maintain and update quality assurance templates on a regular basis, to reflect feedback from stakeholders or to incorporate new/changed industry or regulatory standards and expectations.
• Keep abreast of the evolution of auditing standards and key regulations.
• Develop and maintain relationships with other Quality Assurance professionals and other stakeholders.
• Deliver clear presentations to Senior IG Management.
• Promote integrity and strong ethical values.

Skills:

• Risk awareness / internal control culture: Proficient
• Data processing & analytics: Proficient
• Capacity to communicate (written and verbal): Expert
• Ability to collaborate/Teamwork: Proficient
• Active listening: Proficient
• Organisational skills: Proficient
• Adaptability: Expert
• Analysis and synthesis capabilities: Proficient

Languages:

• English (fluent)
• French would be a plus
• Spanish would be a plus
• Portuguese would be a plus

Experience, Academic Background & Other Qualifications:

• Minimum of five years of audit and/or risk experience with audit or risk management in the banking industry.
• Strong understanding of audit practices and risk management concepts and related regulatory expectations.
• Strong understanding of the relevant risks and controls in a banking and operations environment.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills to interact effectively with the different stakeholders and regulators.
• Ability to work in a geographically dispersed team, liaise with other bank departments and adapt to new situations and approaches.
• Experience is Banking Risk Management improvement or remediation projects. 
• Strong knowledge of financial and banking products, banking industry and the related risks.

Academic Background

• Bachelors degree in applicable and related field (Economics, Finance and/or Accounting preferred)

Other Qualifications.

• Relevant licenses and certifications. CIA preferred.

Tools and Methodologies:

• MS OFFICE PACK MICROSOFT POWERPOINT (Proficient)
• MS OFFICE PACK MICROSOFT EXCEL (Proficient)
• MS OFFICE PACK MICROSOFT WORD (Proficient)
• PowerBI (end user)
• Data Analytics would be a plus

BENEFITS

• Diversity and Inclusion Committee that ensures an inclusive work environment. In recent years, several employee communities have been created to organize diversity and inclusion awareness actions (PRIDE, We Generations and MixCity).
• Corporate volunteering program (1 Million Hours 2 Help) in which employees can dedicate time out of their working hours to volunteer activities.
• Flexible compensation plan
• Hybrid telecommuting model (50%)
• 32 vacation days

Diversity and Inclusion commitment

 BNP Paribas Group in Spain is an equal opportunity employer and proud to provide equal employment opportunity to all job seekers. We are actively committed to ensuring that no individual is discriminated against on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Equity and diversity are at the core of our recruitment policy because we believe that they foster creativity and efficiency, which in turn increase performance and productivity. We strive to reflect the society we live in, while keeping with the image of our clients.