Netting Lawyer - contract

Job description

Responsibilities

Description of the Business Line or Department

Background

The Investment Banking Division of Societe Generale (GBS) is driving change to develop a new range of services and create more cross selling opportunities. Client and counterparty on-boarding processes within GBS are currently under review and the role of the legal department has to be redesigned in light of the new target operating model.

The Legal team MAN (MAN) is currently responsible for amongst other things:
• updating master agreement templates, policies and procedures applicable within SG Group,
• negotiating master agreements,
• ensuring that agreements are recorded in systems and netting flags are entered in SG referential database in accordance with SG Group policy, and
• assessing legal opinion regarding the enforceability of close-out netting and collateral arrangements and producing SG netting reports supporting conclusions.
MAN is a global team with hubs in New York , Hong Kong, Paris, London and Bangalore

The Legal Team Prime Services (PRM) is responsible for amongst other things:
• developing negotiation policies for all agreements governing the services, products and transactions offered by Prime Services;
• drafting and maintaining standard templates in relation to its brokerage and clearing activities;
• overseeing negotiation and drafting of trading, clearing and prime brokerage documentation, including derivatives clearing documentation, prime brokerage agreements, broker terms of business and financing agreement, trading agreements together with ISDA documentation, GMRAs, GMSLAs and other master agreements relating to activities conducted by SG booking entities or their successors;
• drafting of the documentation and structuring transactions
PRM is a global team with teams in London, Paris, NY, HK.

Role of the Central Team MAN (Central Team)

The Central Team will combine MAN and PRM processes with the aim to streamline the legal on boarding of customers and counterparties facing SGPM or SG affiliates.

JUR/GBIS has in the last couple of months received feedback from business units, support and control functions.

The role of the Central Team is to work with and coordinate with transaction lawyers and negotiators the following key areas :

• Netting (processes to determine SG positions on netting/collateral enforceability, including opinion review, reporting and reference data management)
• Knowledge management (changes in law, new documentation, trade association updates…)
• Documentation project management (regulatory repapering projects e.g. margin reform and other)
• Governance frameworks, policies and procedures, through coordination with other stakeholders (TRD,SCR, RISQ, OPER, CPL…)

The successful candidate will form part of the MAN Central Team and report to Global Co-ordinator of the MAN Central team.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to broaden his/her current skills and gain experience across a broad range of master trading and clearing agreements in a multitude of jurisdictions.

The role is based in London.

Summary Of The Key Purposes Of The Role

• support the delivery of the Netting Report project for master and clearing agreement legal opinions
• ensure SG netting referential data are appropriate and up-to-date
• assist the Global Netting Co-ordinator with the initiation and IT development of a range of enhanced netting tools and certain tactical interim solutions
• provide training on netting processes and templates to legal teams and other internal stakeholders
• Policy and template development with the aim of streamlining client on boarding outside of the netting sphere

Summary of Responsibilities

• review legal opinions on the enforceability of close-out netting and collateral arrangements for counterparties in relevant jurisdictions
• produce legal opinion netting reports that form the basis of SG's view of the legally effectiveness of the arrangements
• consolidate and maintain the Legal Opinion Inventory
• assist the Global Netting Co-ordinator to produce and update template forms of netting report, collateral report and instructions to law firms for the provision of legal opinions
• liaise with other MAN Hub contacts to monitor progress of the Netting Report project
• handle ad hoc netting enquiries from legal teams and other internal stakeholders
• engage with stakeholders to develop policies and templates to expedite client on-boarding across various industry master agreements and in response to regulatory change.

Profile Required

Competencies

• a working knowledge and understanding of close-out netting and collateral arrangements for master agreements and clearing agreements;
• suitable experience in negotiating ISDAs and other master agreements as well as clearing agreements (preferable);
• some experience and knowledge of derivatives and familiarity with different counterparty/client types (including hedge funds, investment funds, banks, financial institutions and corporates);
• an awareness of the key regulatory developments in relation to derivatives, clearing and collateralisation;
• good project management and case management skills and experience;
• good team working and collaboration skills and experience;
• fluent English (scope to use French or other major languages is an advantage);
• University graduate or equivalent;
• either (i) qualified as a lawyer in England or (ii) qualified as a lawyer or with law degree in Europe, North America or a Commonwealth country and having a good grounding in and experience of English law principles;
• relevant previous experience in another financial institution (preferable);
• ability to monitor own workload and meet work objectives;
• self-motivation and ability to manage the demands of a fast moving environment;
• strong interpersonal and analytical skills; and
• good working knowledge of Microsoft Office suite of applications, especially Excel and Power Point.

If you feel you have the required experience and qualifications, then please apply to the SG Resourcing Team, and we will manage your application. At Societe Generale, we believe our people are our strength and are core to the success of our business. As such, we search for, recruit and appoint the best available person on the basis of aptitude and ability, regardless of sex, marital or civil partnership status, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins, pregnancy, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, belief or gender reassignment.

Business Insight

People join for the impact they can have on us. They stay for the impact we have on them. A flatter structure offers visibility and exposure beyond that of our competitors, so you know our names, and we know yours. It's personable, human, and inspires success through passion. By encouraging open mindedness and a willingness to share ideas, we have adapted to market changes and thrived through innovation. Bringing words like “hard work” and “dedication” together with “community” and “respect” has enabled us to work collaboratively and build our future together. We call this Team Spirit and it's what makes us different. It's what makes you different

We are an equal opportunities employer and we are proud to make diversity a strength for our company. Societe Generale is committed to recognizing and promoting all talents , regardless of their beliefs, age, disability, parental status, ethnic origin, nationality, sexual or gender identity, sexual orientation, membership of a political, religious, trade union or minority organisation, or any other characteristic that could be subject to discrimination.

Job code: 190004LA
Business unit: SG CIB
Starting date: Immediate
Date of publication: 01/07/2019