Legal Counsel, Financial Markets, AME at Standard Chartered Bank

Job description

To provide legal, advisory and documentation support to Financial Markets in Africa & Middle East in the following areas:

Sales, Structuring & Trading across all asset classes.
COO and other support functions including TCRM, Risk, Finance, Middle Office/Back Office, etc.
Infrastructure issues relating to electronic trading platforms, trade confirmations and processing.

Key Roles and Responsibilities

• General Financial Markets:
• Provide general and transactional legal advice to FM across asset classes and documentation Negotiate and complete applicable FM transaction documentation .
• Review, maintain and manage documentation templates.
• Provide training on legal/documentation matters and legal policies and procedures.
• Provide legal review and sign-off required under relevant policies and procedures.
• Assist in liaison with external counsels and country legal and compliance colleagues.
• Provide advice on client disputes and potential defaults (e.g. triggering of credit events and close-out of derivative positions).
• Provide support to LRRG Committee and preparation of netting opinions
• Identification and mitigation of legal risks:
• Determine adequacy, validity and enforceability of contractual and collateral documentation.
• Manage documentation templates automation.
• Legal knowledge management.
• Assist with review of and compliance with policies and procedures.
• Assist in process governance committees and operational risks committees.
• Assist in management of client dispute resolution, if any.
• New products development and roll-out to new jurisdictions:
• Review and provide legal sign-offs for product and country governance documents.
• Design, develop and approve country specific documentation.
• Lead and coordinate with country legal & compliance in relation to global roll-out of new products.
• Consider and analyse cross border legal and regulatory risks.
• Regulatory reform:
• Monitor and advise on regulatory reform developments in Africa & Middle East.
• Provide support to business on trade reporting and central clearing initiatives.
• Provide support to Eclipse team on client clearing initiative.
• Update the regulatory reform team on Africa & Middle East developments.
• Liaise with regulatory reform team on Dodd Frank/ EMIR issues in order to advise business on such issues.
• Legal costs management:
• Control, monitor and report external legal spending.
• Monitor quality of legal services provided by external law firms.
• Provide non-panel law firm approvals on a selective basis.

Qualifications and Skills

Experience and knowledge:

• Minimally, a degree in Law.
• Qualified lawyer, preferably in a common law jurisdiction.
• Experience in ISDA documentation and FX/Rates derivatives desirable.
• Experience in general commercial banking.
• Experience working in the markets of the bank's footprints

Character and skills:

• Strong analytical and legal skills.
• Personal authority and integrity.
• Independence and resilience.
• An inquisitive approach to practices, procedures and specific transactions.
• Ability to coordinate across different functions and geographies.

Judgment:

• As Legal Counsel, the individual must be able to make judgment calls not just from a documentation perspective but also in light of the bank's policies and procedures and conduct considerations.
• Many issues which arise in the course of drafting or negotiating documentation are not legal issues but involve aspects of credit, market, event or operational risk. The Legal Counsel must be able to identify and understand the nature of these risks and contribute to the processes that mitigate these risks.
• Negotiation of document often requires a judgement decision in which a balance must be struck between the interests of doing business and of protecting the bank. Although the Legal Counsel may not make this decision solely, he/she must be able to make a meaningful recommendation and to provide the decision-maker with sufficient information in order to make an informed decision.
• The Legal Counsel must be able to adapt his/her approach to a range of legal systems which may differ considerably from the system he/she was trained in.