FOS Liaison Manager

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This position will be responsible for leading the FOS Liaison Office, a cross-functional team located within the UK & ICC Executive Customer Relations Office. You will be key in managing the business' relationship with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), and in establishing and leveraging strong business relationships with our external partners and across all internal business units.

The primary responsibility of this position is to recruit, lead and coach team members to ensure that complaint files are reviewed and assessed correctly, that any potential errors / risks associated with incorrect complaint outcomes are addressed and suitably resolved, and to drive operational performance and efficiency across the wider team, ensuring competence is attained and maintained in a highly regulated environment.

Specifically, you will need to:

• Build and maintain an engaged, high performing team with a strong customer-centric, compliance focused culture.
• Lead / coach the team to deliver end-to-end resolution of all FOS related requests and enquiries, strictly adhering to all FCA and FOS guidelines.
• Be a point of contact for FOS, GCO, Compliance, Public Affairs, Risk, Marketing and any other global Exec Offices.
• Develop effective coaching and development plans to ensure performance from all team members is at a consistently unparalleled level.
• Assist with the provision of witness statements in support of Amex's Defense if a case goes to court.
• Demonstrate role model behaviours we want representatives to demonstrate - this means that you will need to have a real passion for the American Express brand and products, a sense of sincere empathy and a real determination to 'go beyond' to resolve customer complaints.
• Have a proven working knowledge of a Compliance environment and relevant issues, specifically relating to FCA Dispute Resolution rules, Financial Ombudsman Services and ICO Guidelines relating to data privacy.
• Have the ability to challenge upwards and influence without direct authority, knowing when to escalate to ensure alignment and timely completion of projects.
• Use a combination of customer data and active networking and effective relationship management skills to resolve issues by involving other Global Servicing Network functional areas and internal / external Business Partners where appropriate.
• Proactively identify and pre-empt customer problems and find solutions for them either within existing policies or sometimes where no solution exists.

Key responsibilities include:

• Call listening, complaint file & QC reviews and coaching of team members in order to improve job performance and to adhere to regulation and internal policies and procedures.
• Critically you will need to ensure all legislative guidelines are strictly adhered to by the team, including FCA, Banking code, Data Protection and Information Commissioner Guidelines and regulations.
• Develop a high performing team through one-on-one coaching, provision of feedback, formal reviews, development planning and management of incentive programs.
• Maintain open channels of communication with team members to enable an environment where people feel empowered to own customer issues and support each other in achieving end-to-end resolution of customer issues.
• Recognise and reward achievements to encourage team members to promote a positive and effective work environment.
• Effectively plan, organise and motivate team members to ensure compliance is adhered to and complaint handling goals and objectives are achieved.
• Build and maintain relationships with key internal stakeholders, liaising with other Global Servicing Network functional areas and internal / external Business Partners to enable issue resolution.
• Management of staffing and resourcing requirements to ensure all Service Level timeframes including regulated FCA, FOS and ICO timeframes, and objectives are met and the customer experience not impacted.
• Full understanding and oversight of all functions carried out within your own team and across the department including associated regulations and timeframes.
• Confident decision maker with the ability to know when to escalate internal or external issues, backlogs and industry behaviours.

Offer of employment with American Express is conditioned upon the successful completion of a background verification check, subject to applicable laws and regulations.

Qualifications

Required skills:

• Essential understanding of the FCA, Financial Ombudsman Service and regulatory guidelines for complaint handling along with full understanding of ICO guidelines in respect of Data Privacy.
• Essential experience of working in a Compliance and Complaints environment.
• Demonstrated and proven leadership experience in a regulated environment.
• Proven experience recruiting, coaching, performance-managing, developing and engaging a team to produce high quality results.
• Strong knowledge of Consumer, PPI, Corporate and Insurance products and services required.
• Experience in a large financial services organisation.
• Strong customer experience focus knowledge and skills.
• Enhanced people leadership skills - able to recruit and drive a diverse high performing team against the highest service expectations.
• Strong relationship management and interpersonal skills - able to build strong network across CEN functional areas and our business partners both internally and externally.
• Able to work independently, meet deadlines and handle multiple tasks.
• Able to role model high performing behaviours, and really 'set the tone' for the team.
• Able to liaise at all levels using tact, discretion and initiative.
• Knowledge of all products together with Front/Back office functions and procedures.
• Able to maintain composure under pressure in a demanding environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Well-developed decision making skills.
• Proven ability to manage change and prioritise tasks.

Why American Express?

Talk to our people and you'll find out what we're really all about. Open, creative, risk-taking, collaborative and innovative are just some of the expressions you'll hear. It's our culture that makes American Express an outstanding place to work, and a big part of why we regularly win best workplace awards all over the world including recognition amongst the World's Best Multinational Workplaces by Great Place to Work and Glassdoor's 2017 Best Places to Work. If you're ready to take on a challenge and make an impact, you owe it to yourself to launch or grow your career here.

To complete your application please click on the links below. However, if you require any assistance with the completion of this process - or need any reasonable adjustments to be made - then please contact the Recruitment Team on or (for Russia based candidates ).

ReqID:
Schedule (Full-Time/Part-Time): Full-time