With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group.
Job Summary
The role is responsible for preventing, detecting, and managing fraud risks that occur during the customer onboarding and application stage. To ensure that only legitimate customers are approved by building strong preventative controls, improving identity verification processes, and leading teams and systems that identify fraudulent applications before accounts or products are opened.Job Description
Key Accountabilities
Application Fraud Strategy Execution
Translate the enterprise fraud framework and business banking fraud strategy into actionable application fraud risk programs.
Develop and maintain policies, standards, and operating procedures for managing application fraud risk.
Support implementation of fraud controls in credit origination, onboarding, and lending approval processes.
Define and monitor key fraud risk indicators (KFRIs) and thresholds relevant to application fraud.
Fraud Risk Assessment & Control Design
Conduct targeted fraud risk assessments (FRAs) across all business banking onboarding and lending processes.
Identify control weaknesses in document verification, identity validation, and credit approval workflows.
Design and recommend preventive and detective controls to mitigate application fraud exposure.
Collaborate with Product, Credit, and Operations to ensure new product launches and process changes incorporate adequate fraud controls.
Data Analytics & Fraud Detection
Partner with fraud analytics and data science teams to enhance application screening tools, scoring models, and decisioning rules.
Monitor fraud detection system performance (e.g., false positives, missed detections) and recommend continuous improvements.
Analyse application data to identify emerging typologies, suspicious patterns, and anomalies.
Produce regular MI reports and dashboards highlighting trends, fraud loss ratios, and system performance insights.
Technology & Process Enablement
Work with Technology and Digital teams to embed fraud detection capabilities into origination platforms and digital onboarding journeys.
Evaluate and implement third-party tools for identity verification, document validation, and business authenticity checks.
Support integration of fraud detection APIs, machine learning models, and data enrichment solutions.
Incident Management & Remediation
Support the investigation and resolution of application fraud cases in partnership with Fraud Investigations and Credit Operations.
Conduct root cause analysis to identify process or control failures that enabled fraudulent applications.
Drive implementation of remediation actions and monitor closure of identified gaps.
Escalate systemic fraud risks and material events to senior management and governance forums.
Governance, Reporting & Compliance
Prepare regular reports and presentations for fraud risk and business committees on application fraud trends and control effectiveness.
Ensure compliance with internal fraud risk management policies, audit requirements, and external regulations.
Maintain accurate documentation of risk assessments, control testing, and incident reviews for audit traceability.
Contribute to the evolution of the bank’s overall Fraud Risk Management Framework for lending and onboarding processes.
Stakeholder Engagement & Awareness
Act as the fraud subject matter expert (SME) for application processes and new product development.
Partner with internal stakeholders (Credit, Product, Operations, Legal, Compliance, IT Security) to strengthen fraud defences.
Promote fraud awareness within the business through training and communication initiatives.
Participate in cross-functional working groups for process re-engineering, digital lending, and customer onboarding enhancements.
Preferred Education
Bachelor’s degree in Risk Management, Finance, Accounting, Economics, Statistics or related discipline
CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner) advantageous
Preferred Experience
7- 10 years’ experience in fraud risk management, financial crime, or credit risk, preferably in business or commercial banking.
Strong understanding of application fraud typologies (e.g., identity theft, document forgery, synthetic identities, first-party fraud, collusion).
Experience in credit origination, digital onboarding, or lending process controls.
Familiarity with fraud detection systems and tools (e.g., Hunter, Falcon, SAS, Actimize, FICO).
Exposure to fraud analytics, data-driven decisioning, and control automation.
Working knowledge of regulatory requirements and internal governance standards related to fraud risk.
Knowledge and Skills
Fraud Risk Expertise – In-depth understanding of application fraud risks, typologies, and controls.
Analytical Skills – Strong ability to interpret data and uncover emerging risk patterns.
Execution Excellence – Proven ability to operationalize strategic fraud initiatives.
Collaboration & Influence – Effective stakeholder management and partnership across functions.
Ethical Judgement – Demonstrates integrity, accountability, and sound decision-making.
Communication – Clear and persuasive presentation of complex fraud insights to varied audiences.
Education
Bachelor's Degree: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (Required)Absa Bank Limited is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. In compliance with the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, preference will be given to suitable candidates from designated groups whose appointments will contribute towards achievement of equitable demographic representation of our workforce profile and add to the diversity of the Bank.
Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as advertised