Justina Okeke

I have over 10 years of progressive experience in Internal Control, Enterprise Risk Management, Credit, Internal Audit and Regulatory Compliance. My professional background aligns with the strategic and operational expectations of this role.

Throughout my career, I have consistently demonstrated the ability to identify control weaknesses, assess enterprise and operational risks, and implement robust control frameworks that support organizational objectives

I also independently evaluated internal control systems, conducted comprehensive risk assessments, and executed end-to-end audit engagements. I worked collaboratively with management and process owners to drive corrective actions, resulting in measurable improvements in controls, process efficiency and regulatory compliance.

Currently, as Head Internal Control, Risk and Compliance Liquid Crest Mfb. I provide leadership in the design, implementation and continuous improvement of the bank’s internal control and compliance framework. I engage closely with senior management and process owners to review policies, strengthen procedures, and ensure full alignment with regulatory requirements, industry best practices and management expectations.

I hold HND in Accountancy, An Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA), A Designate Compliance Professional (DCP), A holder of the Microfinance Certification Program (MCIB) and student member CIA(IIA).

Head, Internal Control, Risk & Compliance – Liquid Crest Mfb May 2025 – To date Responsibilities:

Operational Risk Management

• Continually carry out control assessments within the bank and service Centre operations, technology and assure the first-line management of the effectiveness of control assessments across the bank.
• Identify and communicate identified internal control risks through the collection and analysis of internal control evidence.
• Work collaboratively with business process owners to implement and monitor remediation efforts that result from internal control assessments, ensuring the effective implementation of corrective actions.
• Tracking exceptions highlighted during the reviews to ensure they are closed satisfactorily within the set time frames.
• Pursue the development of effective controls by deploying continuous improvement techniques and partnering with the business to determine the appropriate key control activities. Focus on preventive controls as well as detective control systems.
• Collect data to identify root causes of problems, identify trends, formulate solutions, and escalate potential issues as necessary.
• Work with stakeholders on control issues in all the business units.
• Assess regularly, the existing key business controls against the risk control expectations to measure the level of control effectiveness, efficiency, and relevance in risk mitigation.
• Report risk events, policy deviations, and risk exceptions, and engage appropriate stakeholders on timely remedial actions; escalate key risk situations that pose significant risk.

Business Continuity Management

• Participation in mass debt recovery action as may be organized by management.
• Ensure all financial reporting risks are mitigated either through controls or compensatory activities. This includes daily/weekly/monthly examination of the GLs to ensure posted transactions are authentic and in the right amount/form.

Process Improvement

• Coordinate the implementation of Governing policies, manuals, procedures, and processes with the owners within the organization.
• Identify process gaps, within the organization and drive documentation and implementation of processes ensuring that necessary controls are embedded within such processes.
• Coordinate the implementation of the Internal Control (ICFR) Framework on designated areas as per methodologies.
• Support in improving awareness of internal control processes among the stakeholders.
• Execute work, taking into consideration internal audit best practices and following guidelines. Also catering to relevant regulations, specifically – CBN, NDIC etc.
• Provide Management with weekly and monthly reports as required.
• Perform all other tasks as may be assigned.

Compliance Function

• Identification of all the regulatory requirements that potentially apply to the Bank and analysis of identified risks to the achievement of business objectives.
• Conduct periodic reviews of system access user rights, as well as check the efficiency of all IT-related processes and provide effective improvements as needed.
• Maximize the use of the Customer Risk Rating and Transaction Monitoring (CRR/TM) for the detection of unusual/suspicious transactions.
• Plan and implement a training program on compliance matters affecting the organization to promote a compliance culture across the bank.
• Support the Data Protection Officer (DPO) to enforce and monitor compliance with data privacy and data protection in line with the provisions of the NDPR and other data protection laws.
• Provide detailed and high-quality reports and analyze observations on compliance monitoring exercises, results, and patterns.
• Monitoring regulatory changes/pronouncements to ensure the business is informed of its expectations and the potential compliance/regulatory risk of non-compliance.
• Conduct regular review of the bank's business operations and ensure compliance with the dictates of the CBN Consumer Protection Framework.
• Monitor and Implement system controls to prevent unauthorized access into the corporate network as a whole.
• Ensure continuous enhancement of mutually beneficial relationships with the industry regulators, supervisory bodies and Law Enforcement Agencies.
• Ensure all statutory returns are rendered to the designated regulatory and supervisory bodies in the right format, as when due and as required.
• Draft the annual compliance plan for the bank and implement upon board approval.

HND- Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State.

ACA

DCP

MCIB