Regional Director, APAC Risk & Underwriting Operations

Nuvei is the Canadian fintech company accelerating the business of clients around the world. Our modular, flexible, and scalable technology allows leading companies to accept next-gen payments, offer all payout options, and benefit from card issuing, banking, risk, and fraud management services. Connecting businesses to their customers in more than 200 markets, with local acquiring in 50 markets, 150 currencies, and 700 alternative payment methods, Nuvei provides the technology and insights for customers and partners to succeed locally and globally with one integration.

At Nuvei, we live our core values and thrive on solving complex problems. We’re dedicated to continually improving our product and providing relentless customer service. We are always looking for exceptional talent to join us on the journey!

Mission

The Underwriting and Risk Operations function aims to mitigate financial losses and regulatory exposure for the company through proactive merchant reviews, structured credit risk assessments, and continuous portfolio monitoring across the APAC region.

The Regional Director oversees all underwriting activities in the APAC region and is responsible for selected risk functions, including credit risk oversight, fraud investigation governance, merchant monitoring, chargeback performance oversight, and portfolio risk quality control.

This position is responsible for planning, coordinating, monitoring, analyzing, and evaluating the activities of underwriting and aligned risk functions to achieve departmental objectives. The role ensures that the APAC portfolio operates within defined KPIs, scheme rules, and internal risk appetite, and complies with company policies and regulatory requirements

Key Responsibilities

Leadership, Governance & Regional Oversight

• Oversee and manage all underwriting activities for the APAC region and selected risk operations.
• Plan, coordinate, and evaluate the activities of regional Underwriting, Risk, and Monitoring resources to meet departmental goals.
• Develop, implement, and maintain regional procedures, guidelines, and operational frameworks in alignment with global policies.
• Ensure that policies, rules, regulations, and internal procedures are followed at all times.
• Foster operational excellence, professional development, and structured training across teams.
• Act as the regional escalation point for complex merchant underwriting, risk, fraud, and credit matters.
• Partner closely with Legal, Compliance, Commercial, Risk, BI, and Operations teams to support business objectives.

Underwriting Operations & Merchant Onboarding

• Maintain full accountability for merchant onboarding quality, risk classification, and underwriting integrity across APAC.
• Manage all aspects of client onboarding, including implementation of processes, controls, and follow-up procedures.
• Supervise the utilization of KYC and due diligence tools to ensure regulatory compliance and scheme alignment.
• Identify, investigate, and report potentially suspicious activities, violations, and high-risk applications to senior management, the AMLCO, and relevant governance bodies.
• Review and approve complex merchant applications and business models and make decisions on the disposition of merchant processing activity to mitigate financial, regulatory, and reputational risk.
• Monitor the application status of all merchants handled by the Underwriting function.
• Ensure underwriting operations are performed within approved SLAs.
• Communicate effectively with commercial teams regarding merchant onboarding, application status, and risk positioning.

Credit Risk Management

• Oversee the regional credit risk assessment framework within underwriting governance.
• Define and approve risk profiles, exposure thresholds, and collateral conditions.

Fraud Investigation, Merchant & Chargeback Monitoring

• Supervise Fraud Investigation and Merchant Monitoring functions, ensuring low fraud and chargeback (CHB) levels maintenance across the APAC portfolio.
• Oversee fraud and chargeback ratios at merchant, industry, acquirer, and card scheme levels.
• Ensure merchants remain within mandatory scheme thresholds and program limits.
• Lead mitigation planning and remediation strategies for merchants demonstrating problematic performance.
• Oversee fraud detection initiatives and escalation processes.
• Participate in underwriting-related fraud investigations and merchant risk reviews.

Reporting, KPIs & MI Distribution

• Submit and distribute Management Information (MI) reports for the APAC region. Although the Business Intelligence (BI) team prepares these reports, this role is responsible for their validation, regional distribution, and governance.
• Prepare and present structured risk, underwriting, credit, fraud, and performance reports to the regional board/Risk Committees.
• Communicate merchant performance, risk trends, and portfolio insights to commercial and operational stakeholders.
• Act as the regional coordination point between BI, Risk Analytics, and business functions.

Requirements:
• Bachelor’s degree in Law, Finance, or equivalent relevant experience and training.
• Minimum 7 years of experience in underwriting, risk management, payment risk, fraud, or credit risk, with at least 5 years in a leadership role.
• Proven experience in the payments, acquiring, fintech, or bank card industry.
• Strong knowledge of card scheme rules and regulations; registration and compliance requirements; chargeback programs; fraud frameworks; credit risk principles.
• Demonstrated ability to analyse financial data, build structured risk assessments, and draw meaningful conclusions.
• Strong methodical and analytical skills with the ability to prepare structured written summaries and business recommendations.
• Practical knowledge of Excel and data interpretation.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and Chinese Mandarin.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, multi-stakeholder environment.
• Ability to interact with local regulators, card schemes, and external partners as required.

Benefits:
• Competitive holiday allowance
• Private Medical and Dental Insurance
• Parental leave

Nuvei is an equal-opportunity employer that celebrates collaboration and innovation and is committed to developing a diverse and inclusive workplace. The team at Nuvei is comprised of a wealth of talent, skill, and ambition. We believe that employees are happiest when they’re empowered to be their true, authentic selves. So, please come as you are. We can’t wait to meet you.

English (written and spoken) is the language used most of the time, as work colleagues, clients, and strategic suppliers are geographically distributed.

Our recruitment process may use automated tools, including AI, to support application management and candidate shortlisting.