Zonal Internal Audit Manager Gold Loan

Department: Internal Audit

Function: Gold Loan Audit

Location: As per business requirement

Reporting To: Head – Internal Audit / Chief Internal Auditor

Experience: 5–8 years

Qualification: Graduation

Industry: NBFC / Banking / Gold Loan / Financial Services

About the Company

Vistaar Financial Services Pvt Ltd is an NBFC focused on providing financial solutions to underserved and emerging customer segments across India. The organization is committed to strong governance, operational excellence, regulatory compliance, and robust risk management practices.

Role Purpose The Zonal Internal Audit Manager – Gold Loan will be responsible for leading and overseeing the internal audit function for the Gold Loan business across the assigned zone.

The role will provide independent assurance on the effectiveness of internal controls, operational processes, regulatory compliance, collateral management, fraud-risk controls, and risk-management practices. The incumbent will lead a team of auditors, drive risk-based audit coverage, identify systemic control gaps, and ensure timely implementation of corrective actions.

Key Responsibilities

1. Zonal Audit Management

- Develop and execute the annual/monthly risk-based audit plan for the assigned zone.
- Lead branch audits, surprise audits, thematic audits, special reviews, and process audits.
- Ensure timely completion of the approved audit plan.
- Identify high-risk branches and processes requiring enhanced audit coverage.
- Review audit scope, sampling methodology, working papers, and audit quality.

1. Gold Loan Audit

- Oversee end-to-end audits of gold loan operations, including customer onboarding, appraisal, sanction, disbursement, renewal, closure, and release of gold.
- Review gold purity assessment, weight verification, valuation, and LTV calculation.
- Conduct and supervise physical verification of pledged gold.
- Reconcile physical gold with system records, pledge records, and branch registers.
- Identify discrepancies relating to weight, purity, valuation, packet records, or collateral coverage.

1. Gold Custody & Vault Controls

- Review vault management, dual custody, key management, access controls, CCTV, and security arrangements.
- Verify controls over movement and transportation of pledged gold.
- Review gold stock reconciliation and investigate discrepancies.
- Ensure adherence to approved custody and security procedures.

1. LTV & Collateral Risk

- Review compliance with applicable LTV requirements and internal limits.
- Identify overvaluation, inadequate collateral coverage, and LTV exceptions.
- Analyze high-value loans, high-LTV accounts, renewals, top-up loans, and unusual valuation trends.
- Escalate significant collateral-related risks to senior management.

1. Auction & Recovery Audit





- Review the end-to-end auction process for overdue/defaulted gold loans.
- Verify compliance with approved auction procedures and applicable regulatory requirements.
- Review customer notices, approvals, valuation, reserve price, auction documentation, and realization of proceeds.
- Identify irregularities, control weaknesses, revenue leakage, or potential conflicts of interest.

1. Fraud Risk & Investigation

- Identify potential fraud indicators across the gold loan lifecycle.
- Investigate suspected cases involving fake/substituted gold, purity or weight manipulation, overvaluation, unauthorized gold release, KYC/documentation irregularities, employee/customer collusion, and system manipulation.
- Coordinate with Risk, Compliance, Vigilance, Operations, and other relevant functions.
- Recommend preventive and detective controls to minimize recurrence.

1. Regulatory & Policy Compliance

- Assess compliance with applicable RBI regulations, statutory requirements, internal policies, SOPs, and approved control frameworks.
- Monitor regulatory and policy changes relevant to gold loan operations.
- Ensure regulatory and policy deviations are appropriately documented, risk-rated, and escalated.

1. Audit Reporting

- Review and finalize branch and zonal audit reports.
- Ensure observations clearly identify the risk, root cause, impact, control gap, and corrective action.
- Assign risk ratings in accordance with the approved audit methodology.
- Present significant findings and emerging risks to senior management.
- Prepare periodic audit dashboards and MIS covering critical observations, repeat issues, gold discrepancies, LTV exceptions, fraud cases, and pending actions.

1. Audit Observation Closure

- Monitor closure of audit observations within agreed timelines.
- Validate evidence submitted by business for closure.
- Conduct follow-up reviews for critical and repeat observations.
- Escalate overdue/high-risk observations to senior management.
- Identify recurring issues and recommend systemic corrective measures.

1. Team Management

- Lead, mentor, and develop the zonal audit team.
- Allocate audit assignments based on risk, geography, workload, and auditor capability.
- Review audit work and ensure consistency and quality.
- Conduct joint audits and field visits where required.
- Train auditors on gold loan processes, audit methodology, fraud indicators, and regulatory requirements.
- Drive a culture of independence, integrity,



professional skepticism, and evidence-based auditing.

1. Data Analytics & Continuous Auditing

- Use Excel, MIS, audit tools, and data analytics to identify unusual transactions and emerging risks.
- Develop analytical tests covering high-LTV accounts, repeated renewals, unusual valuation patterns, high-value loans, frequent gold releases, employee-linked transactions, overdue accounts, and auction trends.
- Promote data-driven and continuous auditing practices.

1. Stakeholder Management

- Work closely with Business, Operations, Risk, Compliance, Credit, Vigilance, and Finance teams.
- Maintain audit independence while ensuring constructive engagement with business stakeholders.
- Communicate significant control weaknesses and emerging risks to senior management in a timely manner.

Educational Qualification
- Graduate in any discipline.
- CA / CIA / CISA / MBA (Finance) or equivalent professional qualification will be an added advantage.

Experience
- 5–8 years of relevant experience in Internal Audit, Gold Loan Audit, Gold Loan Operations, Risk, Compliance, or related financial services functions.
- Strong hands-on experience in gold appraisal, purity assessment, weight verification, valuation, LTV, collateral management, vault/custody controls, and auction processes.
- Prior experience in leading or managing an audit team is preferred.
- Experience in an NBFC, bank, gold loan company, or financial services organization will be an advantage.

Key Skills
- Gold Loan Audit & Operations
- Internal Audit & Risk-Based Auditing
- Gold Appraisal & Valuation
- LTV & Collateral Risk Management
- Vault & Gold Custody Controls
- Fraud Risk Identification & Investigation
- Auction Process Audit
- RBI/NBFC Regulatory Compliance
- Risk Assessment & Root Cause Analysis
- MS Excel, MIS & Data Analytics
- Audit Report Writing
- Team Leadership & People Management
- Stakeholder Management
- Strong communication and analytical skills
- High integrity and qualified ethics

Key Performance Indicators
- Achievement of the approved audit plan within timelines
- Quality and effectiveness of audit observations
- Identification and escalation of critical risks
- Reduction in repeat audit observations
- Timely closure and effective validation of corrective actions
- Effective identification of gold-related fraud and control weaknesses
- Regulatory and policy compliance
- Quality of audit documentation and reporting
- Effective team productivity and capability development
- Implementation of data-driven and continuous audit practices

Travel Requirement The role requires extensive travel across branches and regional offices within the assigned zone as per the audit plan and business requirements.Role & responsibilities

Preferred candidate profile

📌 Zonal Internal Audit Manager - Gold Loan (Bengaluru)
🏢 Vistaar Finance
📍 Bengaluru