Senior Vice President, Chief Vigilance Officer, Legal Compliance and Secretariat

DBS Bank has been present in India for 30 years, opening its first office in Mumbai in 1994. DBS Bank India Limited is the first among the large foreign banks in India to start operating as a wholly owned, locally incorporated subsidiary of a leading global bank. As a trusted partner, DBS provides a range of banking services for large, medium, and small enterprises and individual consumers in India, focusing on a seamless customer experience that helps them 'Live more, Bank less'. In November 2020, Lakshmi Vilas Bank was merged with DBS Bank India Limited. DBS Bank India now has a network of ~500 plus branches across 19 Indian states.

Business Function

Legal, Compliance & Secretariat ensures that the bank's interests are protected by zealously guarding and enhancing its reputation and capital. We also work to maintain a good standing with all our regulators, customers, and business partners. Because we believe that at the heart of business banking is to uphold the values of trust and integrity for all our stakeholders.

Job Purpose

The CIV position is offered to comply with laid down detailed guidelines by RBI for private sector and foreign banks on similar lines so that all issues arising out of lapses in the functioning of the private sector and foreign banks especially relating to corruption, malpractices, frauds etc. can be addressed uniformly by the banks for timely and appropriate action. Vigilance is an inseparable part of management. It promotes clean business transactions, professionalism, productivity, promptness and transparent practices and ensures putting in place systems and procedures to curb opportunities for corruption which results in improving efficiency and effectiveness of the personnel as well as the organization. These factors make it mandatory to have a dedicated vigilance setup in the banking industry.

Anti-corruption measures of the banks are a responsibility of the disciplinary authority identified in the bank and it has the over-all responsibility of looking into the acts of misconduct alleged against, or committed by, the employees within its control and to take appropriate punitive action. It is also required to take appropriate preventive measures so as to prevent commission of misconducts/ malpractices by the employees under its control and jurisdiction. The designated Officer [similar to Chief Vigilance Officer - CVO in case of Public Sector Banks] acts as a Special Assistant/Advisor to the CEO of the concerned bank in the discharge of these functions. He also acts as a liaison officer between the bank and the Police/ SFIO/ other law enforcement authorities.

An officer of suitable seniority is required to be designated as Chief of Internal Vigilance (CIV) who will head the Internal Vigilance Division of the bank concerned. Vigilance functions to be performed by the CIV would be wide ranging and include collecting intelligence about the corrupt practices committed, or likely to be committed, by the employees of the organisation; investigating or causing an investigation to be made into verifiable allegations reported to him; processing investigation reports for further consideration of the disciplinary authority concerned; referring the matters to the CEO of the bank for advice wherever necessary, taking steps to prevent commission of improper practices/misconducts, etc. Thus, the CIVs' functions can broadly be divided into three parts, viz. (i) Preventive vigilance; (ii) Punitive vigilance; and (iii) Surveillance and detection.

The CIV is expected to be a standing member of Unit and Country Disciplinary Committees that decide any punitive action on investigations conducted by the appropriate bodies / teams in the bank.

Execution

The CIV would render subject matter expertise and leadership steer to the Vigilance related matters in the DBS Bank India Limited (referred as Bank) in line with the RBI's requirements of Chief of Internal Vigilance.

He / She would work effectively with the senior leadership of the Bank in India to drive governance around vigilance relating to areas like prevention of corruption, malpractices, frauds.

In matters arising from cases that need Law Enforcement Agency – engagement, the CIV would involve as needed to guide and coach the teams in the Bank for such interactions.

The CIV would also manage LEA responsiveness policy for the Bank such that the various response units in the Bank are aware of their role and responsibility.

The CIV would work closely within second line of defense teams handling Fraud Investigations followed by effective governance over recommendations and changes needed of the processes in the bank

The CIV would perform review of the cases to identify vigilance angle in the context of staff accountability

The CIV would manage proactive, preventive, punitive, surveillance & detection vigilance processes, trainings and awareness across the bank and interactions with the regulators for vigilance matters.

The CIV is expected to be of suitable seniority and maintain unbiased approach to judgement of vigilance angle without any conflict of interest.

The CIV is expected to manage the above as a team member collaboratively aligning the work style with the culture and core values of the Bank referred to as PRIDE values ref\: https\

The CIV would devise and drive governance and escalation mechanism for the matters arising of LEA interactions. This would include to derive learnings from the LEA cases and recommend enhancements to processes end to end for the Bank.

Where there is an involvement of employees in the LEA matter either as a report filed from the Bank or against – provide guidance and liaison necessary, including signoff for prosecution where required.

The basis for appointment of CIV would be experience, track record, proven integrity and ability to inspire confidence among personnel in the organization.

Governance Framework

CIV would invariably review all pending matters, such as investigation reports, disciplinary cases and other vigilance complaints/cases and take necessary steps for expediting action on those matters.

The CIV would arrange periodic meetings to be taken by the Chief Executive for reviewing the vigilance work done by the organization. CIV would also be required to furnish a report on the vigilance activities in the bank to the Board/ Local Governing Council on a periodic basis.

In addition, the CIV concerned may also devise and adopt appropriate methods to collect information about any malpractice and misconduct among the employees. Anonymous/ pseudonymous complaints received by the CIV may be dealt with on merit.

LEA Liaison

There is a need for close liaison and co-operation between the CIV of the bank and the police authorities/ SFIO during the course of an inquiry and investigation and the processing of individual cases as both the police authorities/ SFIO and the CIV, receive information about the activities of the officer from diverse sources. Such information could be crosschecked at appropriate intervals to keep officers of both the wings fully appraised with the latest developments through periodical meetings between the CIV and the Officers of the Police/ SFIO.

Qualification / Skills

• Graduate/Post-Graduate
• Perpetual learner, continuously invests in self-development
• Analyze large volume of data points, identifying issues and recommend solutions
• Superior judgment, diplomacy, and tact, with a willingness to speak up amid adversity
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills. Ability to multi-task and prioritize workload in a fast paced environment.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to build rapport with both internal and external stakeholders. Open to learning new skills and industry developments.
• Experience in Civil or Law Enforcement Services will be an added advantage.