Manager - Merchant Ecosystem Risk

Job Description

Essential Services: Role & Location fungibility

Role & Location fungibility At ICICI Bank, we believe in serving our customers beyond our role definition, product boundaries, and domain limitations through our philosophy of customer 360-degree. In essence, this captures our belief in serving the entire banking needs of our customers as One Bank, One Team. To achieve this, employees at ICICI Bank are expected to be role and location-fungible with the understanding that Banking is an essential service. The role descriptions give you an overview of the responsibilities, it is only directional and guiding in nature.

About the role 

The role is part of the Merchant Ecosystem risk function within ORMG and focuses on managing end-to-end risks across the merchant acquiring lifecycle. The incumbent will work closely with Business, Product, Operations, Compliance, and Technology teams to ensure balanced approach between business growth and robust risk governance. The role requires a strong understanding of payments, merchant behavior, regulatory expectations, and emerging trends in acquiring landscape. We are seeking an experienced Risk Professional to lead the Credit Risk Policy framework for our growing Merchant Ecosystem business. The ideal candidate will be responsible for defining the risk appetite, underwriting standards, and portfolio monitoring frameworks for merchant acquisition (POS, QR, Payment Gateway) and merchant lending products.

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Key Responsibilities

1. Policy Formulation & Review

• ?Design and maintain the Credit Policy and Underwriting Guidelines for onboarding various segments of merchants (Small Retailers, Large Corporates, Aggregators, and E-commerce).
• ?Define risk parameters for Merchant Category Codes (MCC), setting specific exposure limits and collateral requirements for high-risk categories.

?2. Portfolio Analytics & Monitoring

• ?Monitor the health of the merchant portfolio through key metrics
• ?Conduct regular stress testing and sensitivity analysis on the merchant portfolio to identify vulnerabilities in specific sectors or geographies.

 3. Product & Process Alignment

• ?Collaborate with Product team and credit team
• Ensure the "Merchant Classification" framework is robust, ensuring accurate mapping of business activities to risk categories.

?4. Regulatory & Compliance

• ?Ensure all policies are in strict compliance with Central Bank guidelines, Payment Network rules (Visa/Mastercard/Amex), and internal compliance standards.
• ?Oversee the framework for periodic renewal and risk grading of the existing merchant base.

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?Qualifications & Experience

• ?MBA in Finance, Chartered Accountant (CA)
• ?2-5 years of experience in Banking or Fintech, with at least 3 years specifically in Merchant Acquiring Risk, SME Lending Policy, or Transaction Risk.

• ?Deep understanding of the payments landscape (POS, PG, UPI), MDR structures, and settlement risks (T+1/T+2).
• ?Proficiency in Excel is mandatory.
• ?Familiarity with scorecards, probability of default (PD) modeling, and risk segmentation strategies. 

• ??Ability to balance risk guardrails with business targets in a high-growth environment.
• ?Detail-oriented with a knack for identifying gaps in process flows.

About the Business Group

ORMGis responsible for identifying, assessing, and mitigating operational and other non-financial risks across the Bank’s products, processes, and partnerships. The group works closely with multiple teams across the Bank to enable safe, scalable, and compliant growth, while ensuring adherence to regulatory expectations and internal risk standards.