Compliance Officer

About Tala

Tala is on a mission to unleash the economic power of the Global Majority – the 4 billion people overlooked by existing financial systems. With nearly half a billion dollars raised from equity and debt, we are serving millions of customers across three continents. Tala has been named by the Fortune Impact 20 list, CNBC’s Disruptor 50 five years in a row, CNBC’s World's Top Fintech Company, Forbes’ Fintech 50 list for eight years running, and Chief's The New Era of Leadership Award. We are expanding across product offerings, countries and crypto and are looking for people who have an entrepreneurial spirit and are passionate about our mission.

By creating a unique platform that enables lending and other financial services around the globe, people in emerging markets are able to start and expand small businesses, manage day-to-day needs, and pursue their financial goals with confidence. Currently, over nine million people across Kenya, the Philippines, Mexico, and India have used Tala products. Due to our global team, we have a remote-first approach, and also have offices in Santa Monica, CA (HQ); Nairobi, Kenya; Mexico City, Mexico; Manila, the Philippines; and Bangalore, India.

Most Talazens join us because they connect with our mission. If you are energized by the impact you can make at Tala, we’d love to hear from you!

About The Role

Tala is seeking an experienced compliance officer with the ability to provide sound transactional and regulatory oversight and build out the compliance function for Tala PH Market.. At Tala, we’re working to improve the financial lives of millions of underserved people by creating new, accessible financial services around the world. We are a global team with diverse backgrounds who are singularly focused on using technology, data, and a customer-centric approach to meet the financial needs of the global majority.

The Compliance Officer will be responsible for providing general compliance advice to the business, providing guidance on compliance activities in the Philippines, including licensure, developing policies and procedures, and building out a robust anti-money laundering program. In addition to transactional compliance work, this individual would partner with key stakeholders to assess the overall compliance risks and gaps, develop and execute a remediation plan, and provide continual awareness and compliance program development and improvements.

An ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of the financial services space, preferably in emerging markets and must be willing and able to roll up their sleeves to solve problems. Candidates are expected to have a deep sense of accountability for (and demonstrated experience delivering) results as well as the success and growth of teams. Candidates will demonstrate the ability to be an excellent communicator and decision-maker, adept at ensuring a large, varied audience understands issues, context, tradeoffs between different solutions, and reasons for decisions.

• Own the adherence to applicable financing and banking regulations and obtaining and maintaining licensure and requirements.
• Support the company and business teams with commercial legal support
• Overall responsibility for the design and implementation of compliance programs in the Philippines.
• Build and oversee the implementation of the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Program.
• Oversee risk management evaluations intended to identify, assess, monitor and mitigate risks that may affect Tala, so they are managed within acceptable risk tolerance levels.
• Serving as a technical resource for business and product managers regarding legal, compliance and/or regulatory matters.
• Maintaining a thorough understanding of, and keeping abreast of developments in, laws and regulations that pertain to Tala’s products and services.
• Partnering with in-house counsel on understanding new laws/regulations pertaining to the products / services provided by Tala and developing a strategy to understand and follow laws/regulations within the required regulatory timeframe.
• Promoting a culture of compliance by fostering an environment of open and honest communication with all employees of all levels –reinforcing the importance of conducting oneself in an ethical manner and in the best interests of customers.
• Preparing materials and making presentations about compliance/regulatory matters.
• Overseeing the preparation and submission of all regulatory filings.
• Respond and address complaints filed with regulators.
• Oversee the submission of the credit bureau reports and suspicious transaction reports.
• Develop and deploy annual and ad hoc compliance training.
• Act as an assistant Data Protection Officer (DPO) and support and assist the DPO in all privacy initiatives, including the review of data subject requests.

• 5+ years’ compliance leadership experience in banking or fintech, including AML oversight
• Experience designing compliance and AML programs
• Experience interpreting and building programs to comply with multiple regulatory requirements
• Knowledge of financial products and services as well as the ability to understand operational processes
• Strong analytical and communication skills
• Proficient in English
• Strong attention to detail and highly organized
• Appropriate level of assertiveness, maturity and guidance to effectively project the stature and importance of the compliance function across the organization
• Ability to collaborate with key stakeholders
• Superior judgment and rigor in relation to problem solving and appropriate escalation of issues
• Demonstrated ability to work efficiently and independently, prioritize workflow, meet demanding deadlines, and manage multi-faceted projects in a fast-moving environment
• Willingness to work across time zones globally

• Experience working in a fintech or startup environment
• Experience in global, developing markets
• Experience working with international teams

Our vision is to build a new financial ecosystem where everyone can participate on equal footing and access the tools they need to be financially healthy. We strongly believe that inclusion fosters innovation and we’re proud to have a diverse global team that represents a multitude of backgrounds, cultures, and experience. We hire talented people regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.