Torchora
Back to Home

Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Inquiry Officer

💰 $ - $

Customer ServiceInvestigationsComplianceAdministrationRisk Management

🎯 Role Definition

An Inquiry Officer is responsible for receiving, triaging, investigating and resolving customer, stakeholder or compliance-related enquiries and complaints. This role combines customer service, investigative techniques and regulatory awareness to provide accurate, timely responses, mitigate risk, and maintain high-quality records. The Inquiry Officer acts as a primary point of contact for inbound requests, coordinates cross-functional responses, ensures adherence to policies (including data protection and AML/KYC where applicable), and drives continuous improvement in enquiry handling and reporting.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Customer Service Representative
  • Administrative Assistant with exposure to complaints handling
  • Junior Compliance / Risk Analyst

Advancement To:

  • Senior Inquiry Officer / Case Manager
  • Compliance Analyst or Investigations Specialist
  • Team Lead / Supervisor — Customer Experience or Complaints
  • Regulatory Affairs or Risk Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • Fraud or Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Investigator
  • Quality Assurance Analyst (Customer Experience)
  • Policy Analyst / Governance roles

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Respond to, triage and log high volumes of incoming enquiries and complaints through multiple channels (phone, email, web forms, social media), ensuring every case is recorded accurately in the CRM or case-management system within SLA targets.
  • Conduct structured investigations for complex enquiries by collecting relevant documentation, verifying customer identity, tracing transaction history, and interviewing stakeholders to determine root cause and appropriate resolution.
  • Evaluate and apply organizational policies, procedures and regulatory requirements (e.g., GDPR, AML/KYC, financial services regulations) to ensure enquiries are handled in compliance with legal and internal standards.
  • Draft clear, professional and legally sound written responses and correspondence for customers, regulators and internal stakeholders, ensuring explanations of decisions are transparent and defensible.
  • Escalate complex, time-sensitive or high-risk cases to senior management, legal or compliance teams with concise, evidence-backed case summaries and recommended next steps.
  • Maintain and update detailed case notes and supporting documents in the case-management system, ensuring audit trails, version control and document retention policies are followed.
  • Coordinate cross-functional investigation activities with operations, product, fraud, legal and IT teams to obtain required information and implement corrective actions or system fixes.
  • Monitor case progress and SLA compliance, proactively communicating delays and establishing remedial plans to meet service-level expectations and customer commitments.
  • Analyze enquiry and complaint trends to identify recurring issues, root causes and areas for process or product improvement, and present actionable insights to stakeholders.
  • Produce regular management reports and dashboards showing volume, resolution time, escalation rates, customer satisfaction and risk indicators to inform leadership decisions.
  • Apply risk assessment frameworks to prioritize inquiries by impact and urgency, ensuring resources are allocated to mitigate the highest operational or regulatory risks first.
  • Support regulatory reporting obligations by compiling and delivering required documentation and metrics for audits, supervisory reviews and statutory returns.
  • Conduct quality assurance reviews of resolved cases to ensure resolution consistency, policy adherence and high quality of communication; provide corrective feedback and training recommendations.
  • Provide subject-matter expertise for Freedom of Information (FOI) or Subject Access Requests (SARs), coordinating with legal and data protection officers to ensure lawful and timely disclosures.
  • Implement corrective case actions such as account adjustments, refunds, service corrections or disciplinary referrals, ensuring actions are documented and executed through proper channels.
  • Contribute to the review and updating of internal policies, FAQs, scripts and knowledge base articles to improve first-contact resolution and knowledge accuracy.
  • Train and mentor junior inquiry staff on investigative techniques, system usage, customer communication standards and compliance obligations to improve team capability.
  • Liaise with external partners (law enforcement, regulators, vendors) when enquiries involve third-party investigations, securing appropriate legal authority and protecting the organization’s interests.
  • Maintain up-to-date knowledge of sector-specific regulatory changes, reimbursement rules, or product updates that affect enquiry handling and provide recommendations to update processes accordingly.
  • Manage confidential and sensitive information with strict adherence to privacy, confidentiality and information-security policies to prevent data breaches and reputational harm.
  • Facilitate dispute resolution by negotiating outcomes where appropriate, balancing customer satisfaction with business rules and financial or legal constraints.
  • Design and implement process improvements and automation opportunities (e.g., templates, workflow rules, triage criteria) to reduce cycle times and increase consistency.
  • Support internal and external audit activities by preparing case samples, explaining investigative methodologies and demonstrating compliance with procedures.
  • Respond to stakeholder and executive-level enquiries with timely briefings and evidence-based position papers that summarize case status, risks and proposed mitigation.
  • Maintain professional relationships with internal stakeholders to ensure seamless handoffs, effective communication and accurate follow-through on remediation or system changes.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc reporting requests and one-off analysis to help business units understand enquiry drivers and operational impacts.
  • Contribute to the organization's knowledge management by updating KB articles, FAQs and standard response templates to improve self-service and agent efficiency.
  • Collaborate with product, operations and systems teams to translate recurring data or policy needs into system enhancements or policy clarifications.
  • Participate in project work and cross-functional initiatives to improve triage workflows, implement automation, or deploy new case-management tools.
  • Assist in sprint planning and agile ceremonies for initiatives affecting enquiry handling systems or customer-facing processes.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Case management and CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce Service Cloud, Zendesk, MS Dynamics) — proficient at logging, tracking and reporting cases.
  • Investigation techniques: evidence collection, interviewing, timeline reconstruction and root-cause analysis.
  • Regulatory and compliance knowledge relevant to the sector (data protection/GDPR, AML/KYC, consumer protection laws).
  • Strong report writing, documenting case findings, and preparing materials for legal or regulatory review.
  • Proficiency with Excel for data manipulation, pivot tables and basic analytics to identify trends and produce management reports.
  • Familiarity with ticket-routing, SLA management and escalation workflows.
  • Experience with quality assurance frameworks and case-review methodologies.
  • Basic IT literacy including email, MS Office suite, and ability to work with internal ticketing and document management systems.
  • Ability to interpret contracts, terms of service, policy documents and statutory requirements.
  • Experience preparing materials for audits, regulatory filings or external investigations.

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional written and verbal communication skills for clear, professional responses to customers and stakeholders.
  • Strong analytical and critical-thinking abilities to synthesize evidence and recommend outcomes.
  • High attention to detail and accuracy in documentation and decision-making.
  • Resilience and composure when handling difficult or time-sensitive enquiries.
  • Stakeholder management and collaboration skills to coordinate across departments and external partners.
  • Customer-centric mindset with strong problem-solving orientation.
  • Time management and prioritization: ability to manage multiple cases to meet SLAs.
  • Discretion and integrity when handling confidential and sensitive information.
  • Coaching and mentoring skills for supporting junior staff development.
  • Negotiation and conflict-resolution skills to achieve balanced outcomes.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree OR equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience (e.g., diploma + experience in investigations, customer service or compliance).

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Law, Criminology, Public Policy, Finance, or related field.
  • Additional certifications in compliance, investigations, AML, or data protection (e.g., ICA, ACAMS, CIPP) are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Law / Legal Studies
  • Criminology / Justice Studies
  • Finance / Accounting
  • Public Policy / Regulatory Affairs

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 1–5 years handling enquiries, complaints or investigations in customer service, compliance, financial services, utilities, government or regulated industries.

Preferred:

  • 3+ years of direct experience as an Inquiry Officer, Case Manager, Compliance Investigator, or similar role with demonstrated end-to-end case handling, escalation and regulatory reporting experience.
  • Proven track record working with CRM/case-management systems and delivering improvements to enquiry handling processes.
Explore More Careers