Operations Officer - Payments Investigations

Role: Operations Officer - Payments Investigations
Location: Abu Dhabi                          

Role Purpose:

Payment Investigation Officer is responsible for ensuring the accurate, timely, and secure processing of financial transactions by identifying, resolving, and preventing payment-related issues. The role safeguards both the bank and its customers from financial loss, operational risks, and regulatory breaches.

Acting as a contact point between payment department and correspondent banks/internal Business Units (BU) to clarify all issues related to payments.
    
Key Accountabilities of the role      

 

1. Payment Investigation & Resolution

• Investigate failed, delayed, rejected, duplicated, or misrouted payments across all channels (SWIFT, RTGS, ACH, internal transfers, etc.).

• Perform end‑to‑end tracing of transactions using internal systems and correspondent banking networks.

• Resolve payment discrepancies by identifying root causes and implementing corrective actions.

2. Customer & Stakeholder Communication

• Provide timely and accurate updates to Branches & relationship managers, and internal business units regarding investigation progress.

• Liaise with correspondent banks and external partners through SWIFT messages and formal communication.

3. Operational Risk & Compliance Adherence

• Ensure every investigation complies with AML, sanctions screening, fraud monitoring, and regulatory requirements.

• Escalate suspicious or high‑risk transactions to Compliance, AML, or Fraud teams as needed.

• Maintain solid controls to mitigate operational, financial, and reputational risks.

4. Exception Handling & Case Management

• Work through payment exception queues and ensure timely handling of pending items.

• Carry out recalls, amendments, returns, chargebacks, and indemnities according to bank policy.

• Maintain accurate, audit‑ready documentation for all cases handled.

5. Reconciliation & Transaction Validation

• Reconcile payment breakages, unmatched entries, and pending items from related system reports.

• Validate incoming and outgoing payment information to prevent errors and rework.

• Coordinate with reconciliation teams to close outstanding items.

6. Process Improvement & Issue Prevention

• Identify recurring errors, system issues, or process gaps, and recommend enhancements.

• Support automation, STP (straight‑through processing), and operational excellence initiatives.

• Contribute to reducing turnaround times and improving investigation quality.

7. Reporting & Metrics

• Prepare daily/weekly/monthly reports on investigations, bottlenecks, and trends.

• Highlight operational risks, root causes, and performance KPIs to management.

• Track turnaround time (TAT), investigation accuracy, and customer experience metrics.

8. Collaboration & Knowledge Sharing

• Partner with Operations, IT, Treasury, Compliance, and other teams to ensure smooth payment processing.

• Support training of new team members and share best practices.

• Act as a subject matter expert (SME) during audits, reviews, or system upgrades.

Undertake any additional assignments / projects entrusted by the line management and complete them as per requirement.

Specialist Skills / Technical Knowledge Required for this role:
 

• Leadership

• Teamwork

• Customer Management

• Business Development

• Financial Management

• Commercial & Innovative Problem Solving