Head of Compliance Risk, MLRO (Sweden)

Head of Compliance, Risk & MLRO (Director)

📍 Sweden

A leading international corporate and investment bank is looking to appoint a Head of Compliance, Risk & MLRO (Director level) to take full ownership of regulatory, financial crime, and risk oversight for its Swedish Branch.

This is a senior, high-impact leadership role, sitting on the local executive committee and acting as the key interface with regulators, while shaping the overall compliance and risk strategy for the business.

The Role

You will take end-to-end responsibility for the branch’s compliance, financial crime, and risk framework, ensuring adherence to all local regulatory requirements while aligning with global governance standards. Acting as the primary contact for the Swedish FSA, you will play a critical role in managing regulatory relationships, overseeing inspections, and ensuring the business operates within a robust control environment.

In parallel, you will have broad oversight across risk disciplines (credit, market, operational and enterprise risk), working closely with both local and head office stakeholders to ensure effective risk governance and escalation.

Key Responsibilities

• Regulatory LeadershipAct as the designated point of contact for the Swedish FSA and other local regulators
• Lead regulatory engagement, inspections, and ongoing supervisory relationships
• Escalate key regulatory matters to senior management and head office
• Compliance & Financial Crime OversightOwn the AML, sanctions, and financial crime framework for the Swedish branch
• Ensure compliance with all applicable Swedish regulatory and legislative requirements
• Drive a strong compliance culture across the business
• Risk Oversight & GovernanceProvide senior oversight across credit, market, operational, and enterprise risk
• Contribute to risk governance, including participation in local and global risk committees
• Monitor watchlists, provisioning, and broader risk exposures
• Strategy & LeadershipDefine and implement the compliance and risk strategy for the branch
• Sit on the local executive committee, contributing to overall business strategy
• Lead and develop the local Compliance & Risk function, including budget responsibility
• Controls, Monitoring & ReportingEstablish and maintain policies, procedures, and control frameworks
• Deliver regular reporting to senior management and head office (KPIs, KRIs, metrics)
• Ensure timely implementation of regulatory and internal audit recommendations
• Operational Resilience & SecurityOversee information security, business continuity, and physical security frameworks
• Ensure robust BCP and disaster recovery planning in collaboration with IT
• Global AlignmentEnsure adherence to global risk frameworks, policies, and risk appetite
• Collaborate with head office on country risk limits and governance processes

What They’re Looking For

• Proven experience in a senior compliance leadership role within banking (branch experience highly beneficial)
• Strong knowledge of Swedish regulatory environment and direct interaction with the Swedish FSA
• Deep expertise across compliance, financial crime (AML/sanctions), and risk management
• Ability to operate at executive level, influencing senior stakeholders and regulators
• Hands-on approach with the ability to operate in a lean, high-responsibility environment

Why This Role?

• True “Head of” ownership across compliance, risk, and financial crime
• High visibility role with direct regulatory interaction
• Opportunity to shape and influence local strategy within a global banking group
• Broad scope across both first-line business engagement and second-line oversight