Manager, Trade Finance Middle Office in City of London

JOB PURPOSE: Provide service and support functions within the Trade Finance Operations Department (TFO) by performing activities supporting Trade Finance transaction processing, including but not limited to: Documentary Credits; Documentary Collections; Standby Letters of Credit; Bonds and Guarantees; Discounting of Bills of Exchange, on behalf of internal and external customers, within suitable turnaround times and acceptable risk and compliance parameters. Build high quality and productive relationships with FAB customers both external (Corporate and FI) and Internal (FAB KYC/Credit/Middle Office/Front Office etc). Provide cover for Manager, Trade Finance Operations and Head of CIB Ops during times of absence.

Key Accountabilities:

• Generic Accountability: Make suggestions and consult management on key changes in the planning of pivotal business strategies and decisions. Strategic planning to achieve the organisation's objectives, as well as assisting in planning the activities of various departments and discussing them with the respective heads. Successfully executing various activities and strategies to meet the goals of the organization. Achieved via a result-oriented approach while implementing innovative ideas.
• Process Management: Mentoring of the inception and incubation of a groundbreaking process, its enhancement and successful implementation. Focus on improving operational efficiency to show year on year improvement in cost, quality, and customer service satisfaction.
• Customer: Provide exceptional customer service. Assist with the development and maintenance of a customer focused environment offering a flexible, simple, and easy to deal with service. Ensure services offered are in line with the long- and short-term strategy of FAB. Address and resolve customer issues, proactively seeking solutions.
• Financial: Assist with maximising revenue vs expense ratio by capitalising on efficiency and productivity within the team, including cross and up skill training between departments. Improvement of revenue generation via identification of cross-selling opportunities gleaned through customer interaction and referrals to FAB Front Office.
• People: The Manager Trade Finance Middle Office is accountable to the Head of CCB & IB Operations and should behave and conduct themselves in an ethical manner in accordance with FAB’s code of conduct and ethics policy. Lead by example and encourage others to behave and conduct themselves in accordance with policy and act as role mentor to junior or less experienced staff. Focus on continuous improvement. Actively contribute to the team with the completion of ad-hoc tasks as and when required.
• Leadership: Be first point of reference for problem resolution and responsible for prompt escalation where necessary. Actively provide ideas and contribute to the continuous improvement of the department.
• Process: Actively provide ideas and contribute to the continuous improvement of the department by improving existing processes and procedures and finding better ways of doing things, in terms of effectiveness (quality, accuracy, reliability, etc.) and/or efficiency (cost, timeliness, etc.).

Qualifications & Experience:

• Essential: Expert on Letters of Credit. A good understanding of all Trade Finance products (Guarantees / SBLCs / LCs / Receivables Finance etc.) and all aspects of international trade operations. Good understanding of the latest version of UCP and ISBP for the examination of documents. Good understanding of the latest version of URDG and ISP and how a guarantee/SBLC could/should be structured. Clear understanding of risks posed within Trade Finance products. Good understanding of requirements in respect of Compliance/AML/Sanctions/Wolfsberg Principles/JMLSG and able to pick up and investigate potential red-flags, review for potential dual use goods and escalate/obtain approvals where required. Excellent time management skills. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Strong documentation and writing skills. Well-developed organisational, planning and presenting skills. Good problem solving and analytical skills. Sound judgement, particularly in relation to identifying risks and problem resolution. Confident using Microsoft Office products. Excellent Customer Service orientation and skills. Being able to work in a team – a team player. Confident, Professional, and high level of integrity. Ability to work well under pressure and meet tight deadlines. Should have a positive “can do” attitude along with a flexible approach to the tasks that are required.
• Preferred: Trade Qualifications (e.g., CDCS / CSDG / URDG Masters). Good understanding/ability to operate the following systems: SWIFT Alliance/TI +/T24.