Role Purpose
As the VP/SVP, Product Governance, you will serve to drive robust operational risk management and product governance discipline across DBS Consumer Banking Group (CBG). This role is instrumental in safeguarding our operations by embedding structured controls, strengthening process rigour, and partnering with business owners to deliver sustainable, compliant, and commercially sound outcomes for our products and services. You will ensure that all CBG products are meticulously designed, developed, launched, monitored in full compliance with regulatory requirements, internal policies, and best practices, thereby protecting both the bank and our customers.
Key Responsibilities:
- Construct, own and maintain product governance framework, focusing on prioritized hotspots, across Consumer Banking product lines (Deposits, Secured & Unsecured Lending, Cards, Bancassurance, Investments).
- Oversee comprehensive campaign management governance, ensuring appropriate levels of operational controls are embedded to mitigate risks.
- Drive regulatory reporting uplift related to operational risk and product performance: strengthen review rigour through a new governance framework, drive pro-active tracking & early escalation across MAS regulatory reporting requirements.
- Proactively identify operational process gaps and control weaknesses; develop remediation roadmaps with clear ownership and timelines to enhance overall operational resilience and product integrity.
- Partner with Product teams, Regional Operational Risk, Compliance, and Legal stakeholders to embed operational risk management and product governance principles effectively without impeding commercial velocity, acting as a trusted advisor.
- Escalate emerging operational risks and product governance concerns with structured recommendations to senior management and relevant committees.
- Support audit and regulatory examinations, preparing comprehensive documentation, coordinating responses, and tracking the timely closure of findings related to operational risk and product governance.
- Contribute to the build-out of Governance & Risk function standards, toolkits, and capability uplift across the embedded Governance & Risk network, with a strong focus on enhancing product governance capabilities.
Required Skills & Experience
Consumer Banking Domain
- Mandatory: Deep and proven working knowledge of DBS's Consumer Banking Group (CBG) products — including Cards, Deposits, Secured/Unsecured Lending, Bancassurance, and/or investment products, their features, target markets, associated operational risks, and regulatory requirements.
- Comprehensive familiarity with the end-to-end product lifecycle: ideation, approval, launch, campaign management, and decommissioning, specifically within a consumer banking context.
- Strong understanding of customer journeys and sales/servicing processes in a retail bank environment, with an eye towards identifying operational risks and control points.
Governance & Controls
- Hands-on experience designing, implementing, or operating robust operational risk and product governance frameworks, including campaign governance and regulatory reporting frameworks.
- Demonstrated ability to read, interpret, and translate complex regulatory requirements (e.g., MAS notices, guidelines) into practical and effective operational controls for consumer banking products.
- Experience in Line 1 or Line 1.5 roles within financial services, with a clear understanding of the distinctions from compliance/audit functions and the three lines of defense model.
- Comfortable working through influence rather than direct authority across a complex matrix organization, particularly when driving adoption of risk and governance standards.
Regulatory & Compliance Acumen
- Strong working knowledge of MAS regulatory reporting obligations and other relevant financial regulations impacting consumer banking products and operations.
- Proven experience supporting regulatory examinations, internal audits, or thematic reviews, with an emphasis on operational risk and product governance aspects.
- Ability to draft and review comprehensive policy documents, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and governance frameworks to a publication-ready standard.
Campaign Management
- In-depth understanding of retail campaign design, targeting logic, fulfilment processes, and disclosure requirements from an operational risk and compliance perspective.
- Expertise in assessing campaign governance risk, including identifying potential mis-selling exposure, evaluating the adequacy of terms and conditions, and ensuring data usage compliance.
Analytical & Stakeholder Skills
- Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to produce crisp, senior-audience-ready materials (decks, memos, reporting packs) that clearly articulate complex operational risk and product governance concepts.
- Structured problem-solver; able to diagnose root causes of operational risk and product governance issues, and design systemic fixes rather than just transactional patches.
- Skilled at navigating complex stakeholder environments; builds trust and credible relationships with business owners, product managers, and risk/compliance peers.
- Commercially minded — frames operational risk management and product governance as value enablers that protect business growth and customer trust, rather than constraints.
Qualifications
- 10–15 years of experience in consumer banking, with at least 3–5 years in a dedicated governance, operational controls, operational risk, or product management capacity.
- Prior experience in a large retail bank or financial institution is preferred.
- Banking or risk-related professional qualifications advantageous.
Location:
DBS Asia Central
Job:
Compliance
Schedule:
Regular
Employee Status:
Full time
