About the job
Our mission and objectives
- British International Investment is the UK’s development finance institution, owned by the UK Government. We invest with the aim of solving the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation.
- We have over 75 years of experience successfully supporting the sustainable, long-term growth of businesses in Africa and Asia, and have recently expanded to invest in the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean.
- We invest to achieve impact and a financial return which is then reinvested for more impact. Over the past five years, we have committed almost £7 billion of new investments, with our net assets growing in value to approximately £7.7 billion. We are now invested in 1,200 businesses which directly employ over 900,000 workers and support many more. Over the next five years, we plan to grow further, and aim to commit around £9 billion of new investments over the period.
- Our new five-year strategy responds to the opportunities and challenges facing developing and emerging economies. To ensure our capital is used in the best way possible to meet these opportunities and challenges, it sets out three clear strategic objectives – to invest in productive, sustainable and inclusive development. These objectives mean an increased focus on climate finance, including investing in green infrastructure; on financing digital transformation; and on driving inclusive outcomes, including through gender and diversity finance.
- We changed our name to British International Investment in 2022, to more accurately reflect our central role in the UK Government’s international financing offer.
- In the last few years, we have expanded our presence in Africa and Asia by opening new offices in Bangladesh, Egypt, Kenya, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ghana and Singapore; with additional locations opening soon.
- We take an entrepreneurial approach to investment. We think innovatively about ways to deploy our capital, attract, and mobilise other investors, and drive transformational impact.
- Deliver impact. We are a growing team of over 500 and place immense value on diversity within our organisation.
- Read more about us and the new strategy at bii.co.uk
Team and role overview
BII’s Business Integrity and Corporate Governance (BI & CG) team plays an important role in reinforcing BII’s reputation as a responsible investor and ensuring BII meets its regulatory commitments with respect to the FCA, as well as supporting our investees to meet the standards and requirements set out in BII’s Policy on Responsible Investing.
We do this by identifying and managing integrity risks in BII’s investment pipeline and portfolio and working to enhance private sector corporate governance and integrity risk management standards in our target geographies. We believe that BI & CG risk management that is aligned with best practice can have a developmental effect by enhancing a company’s reputation, improving internal controls, and ultimately helping it seek commercial backing. Robust business integrity practices help mitigate reputational, operational and compliance risks, and protect companies from the large fines and jail time can result from unethical behaviour. Our work is critical to safeguarding BII’s reputation, meeting the BII Board’s low risk appetite for integrity issues and meeting our shareholder’s expectations.
Purpose
Based in our Nairobi office, the Executive will support BII’s integrity risk management by identifying, assessing and mitigating integrity risks and corporate governance deficiencies in the pipeline and portfolio stages of BII’s investments as well as meeting BII’s financial crime regulatory obligations. The Executive will also proactively monitor BII’s portfolio investments, engaging with investees to strengthen their capacity to mitigate operational integrity risks and improve their corporate governance.
Responsibilities
- Lead on integrity due diligence for individual investments, providing written and oral analysis of the business integrity risks and corporate governance gaps to investment teams and senior management;
- Undertake business integrity related research and due diligence for pipeline investments and engage with external consultants where required;
- Monitor for integrity issues in specific parts of our investment portfolio, managing relationships with portfolio companies or funds;
- Provide integrity-focused capacity building to investees, such as advice and support;
- Ensure that identified risks are reported, monitored and where necessary escalated to the BI Manager and/or BI Director or Compliance
- Foster strong and effective relationships with BII’s investment teams, as well as other operational teams;
- Support in the development of anti-corruption, anti-money laundering and/or counter terrorism-financing, sanctions compliance and anti-fraud controls to help improve business integrity outcomes at funds;
- Work with investees to strengthen corporate governance, including board and oversight structures, risk governance frameworks and reporting channels
- Support the strengthening of BII’s internal business integrity policies and procedures for assessing pipeline and portfolio integrity risks;
- Identify, communicate and promote best practices in dealing with Business Integrity and Corporate Governance issues, both internally and externally, such as through training and awareness sessions
- Support the Business Integrity team with information management and record-keeping as per internal procedural requirements
- Further develop country-, product- and sector-specific expertise on relevant integrity risks to the investment portfolio to support BII’s risk management approach
- Build and maintain a network of external contacts/stakeholders relevant to enhancing the BI team’s knowledge, effectiveness and impact
The candidate
Background, skills, aptitude
Essential skills
- Significant experience in identifying, assessing and addressing financial crime and integrity risks, preferably within private equity or investment banking, and involving clients in Africa across a wide range of sectors e.g. infrastructure, manufacturing, financial institutions.
- Experience in conducting financial crime focused research / due diligence, both remotely and onsite;
- Knowledge of, and experience with, aspects of the UK regulatory requirements on anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing (AML/CFT), and/or anti-bribery and corruption;
- Experience in the development and delivery of financial crime prevention solutions in a wide range of scenarios;
- Experience of developing and managing client relationships;
- Experience in developing and evaluating financial crime compliance programmes and risk assessment frameworks;
- University degree and preferably a postgraduate qualification in a relevant discipline;
- Experience developing and delivering BI-focused training sessions and related materials;
- Excellent written and oral communications skills, including in distilling complex or sensitive topics for strategic audiences.
Desirable/Technical Skills
- Knowledge of controls and techniques in one or more of anti-money laundering, anti-corruption, counter terrorism financing, sanctions, and/or fraud prevention;
- Experience in at least one or more of the following:
- managing fraud and/or sanctions issues
- conducting and managing investigations of financial crime matters such as onboarding diligence, ongoing monitoring and/or investigations.
- developing anti-corruption solutions and/or applying adequate procedures in line with the UK Bribery Act;
- Detailed knowledge of and experience with international legislation or standards to address money laundering, terrorist financing, and/or corruption;
- Detailed knowledge of legal and regulatory regimes relevant to financial crime compliance in BII’s target geographies;
- Competency in one or more languages relevant to BII’s target geographies would also be an advantage.
Personal and Professional Competencies:
The successful candidate is likely to have several of the following attributes:
- Systematic approach to work with a keen attention to detail;
- Proactive and clear ability to look and plan ahead;
- Demonstrated ability to independently manage and prioritise a busy and diverse workload with a range of deliverables for a variety of stakeholders;
- Confident and articulate, with excellent written and verbal communication skills;
- Strong team player who enjoys working as part of a close team and willing to collaborate and support the team on a variety of different initiatives and tasks;
- Demonstrable alignment with BII’s mandate, mission and values.
Our cultural values
We look for team members who aspire, as we do, to work at our best and to be:
- Impact-led, commercially rigorous
- Tenacious in the face of challenges
- Collaborative and caring
British International Investment is committed to diversity and inclusion and welcomes all applicants regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation or educational background.
Please provide a cover letter with your application
Salary: Competitive
