Senior Fund Accountant, Fund Services

We are a leading international bank focused on helping people and companies prosper across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

To us, good performance is about much more than turning a profit. It's about showing how you embody our valued behaviours - do the right thing, better together and never settle - as well as our brand promise, Here for good.

We're committed to promoting equality in the workplace and creating an inclusive and flexible culture - one where everyone can realise their full potential and make a positive contribution to our organisation. This in turn helps us to provide better support to our broad client base.

The Role Responsibilities

Strategy

• Partnering with Fiduciary and Fund Services product management to define functional and product strategy and selecting best paths for execution and support
• To deliver best in class service in accordance with established procedures, regulations & laws to protect client interest and to exceed client expectations.
• Participate in selected market advisory forums to position and promote the perspective and objectives of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), seeking to enhance market process and practice;
• Participate in Regulatory/ Market Infrastructure meetings to communicate SCB and clients’ perspectives on existing and proposed change;
• Execute against agreed strategic developments and projects and documented plans to deliver against schedule;
• Identifying areas in countries to automate or eliminate and driving continuous change in countries in line with business strategic goals
• Driving consistency in countries across processes, governance, prioritisation and ensuring they comply policies

Business

• Responsible for new fund launching / fund transfer-in / fund transfer–out / fund termination, documentation review, requirements review and preparing services level memorandum in accordance with operational guideline of Securities Services/Fund Services.
• Attend Client visits (including due diligence) to ensure client proposition is understood and resulting actions are taken to improve service delivery;
• Partner with Countries and Financial Markets (FM) Sales to ensure the key services are being performed to the standard required. Alignment to FM growth targets and creating an agenda which mirrors the aims of the Product & Solutions and Delivery team
• Monitors client service standards by Operations staff to ensure high-quality operational and client support services are provided in all countries;
• Acts as escalation point for country level operational issues – identifies remedial solutions and oversees timely, efficient implementation when required;
• Works closely with Fiduciary & Fund Services country heads (F&FSH) to ensure operational platforms support client service level agreements and internal benchmark as well as identifying opportunities for automation;
• Drives improvement culture to maximise cost and processing efficiency

Processes

• Ensures compliance with group and country policies, code of conduct, regulations, and laws;
• Work with Fiduciary & Fund Services country heads (F&FSH) to support group and corporate requests in controlled and timely fashion;
• Review appropriate EORP, Audit, KCSA and CST issues raised to ensure quality and accuracy of wording, action and delivery dates; track and drive critical deliverables;
• Review, amendment and closure of risk, audit, and outstanding balance items with zero exceptions >30 days;
• Role models a strong, collaborative business relationship between country operations and GBS locations. Maintains strong lines of communication with hubs through periodic townhall meetings;
• Supports “One Bank” through strong connectivity with support and sales functions and related businesses such as Transaction Banking and Financial Markets.
• To independently handle full sets of client’s books, including valuation, general ledgers, cash positions, distribution records, investment records and pricing records of investments, financial statements. To ensure proper and accurate daily maintenance of client records.
• Handle any ad-hoc projects, system roll-out and UAT review.
• People & Talent
• To act as the local point of contact for assigned clients for fund administration service / FS client services (including fund accounting and/or transfer agency) issues and to coordinate with relevant Client Service Manager (if any) /relevant people on non-accounting report services / issues.
• Provide hands-on advice, coaching and guidance to subordinates and oversight the support team in hubs. Identify problems and issues and discuss with Management with suggested solutions. Communicate with clients and other service providers relating to daily operational issues under supervision of Management.

Risk Management

• To manage fund services unit, risk, control and cost diligently to achieve optimal business results.
• Understands the main risks facing the Group and identifies, assesses, monitors, controls and mitigates accordingly;
• Manages Operations Risk effectively, including identification, communication, and remediation of risks to the relevant forums;
• Accountability – no audit fails, full remediation/root cause analysis and execution for ops losses.

Governance

• To proactively monitor changes in market and accounting standard, regulations and infrastructure and to provide comprehensive updates to team, Clients and Sales Team through regular service review meetings.
• Embed the Group’s values and code of conduct in countries and hubs to ensure that adherence with the highest standards of ethics, and compliance with relevant policies, processes, and regulations;
• Actively participates as required in Regional and / or Global committee or working group meetings;
• Reviews effective governance, oversight, and controls in the business and, if necessary, respectfully challenges unsatisfactory arrangements and recommends changes;
• Works with regulators in an open and co-operative manner.
• Regulatory & Business Conduct
• Display exemplary conduct and live by the Group’s Values and Code of Conduct.
• Take personal responsibility for embedding the highest standards of ethics, including regulatory and business conduct, across Standard Chartered Bank. This includes understanding and ensuring compliance with, in letter and spirit, all applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and the Group Code of Conduct.

Key stakeholders

INTERNAL

• All sections of Fiduciary and Fund Services Operations, and Financing & Securities Services;
• Sales and Relationship Managers
• Client Services Manager/OCS/Implementation Manager
• Fund Accounting operations team / Transfer Agency Team / Fiduciary & Trustee team
• Operations Risk Group
• FM (FSS) Legal & Compliance Teams
• FMO (FSS) Technology & Operations Global Teams
• All relevant support parties (e.g. Chennai/Bangalore/KL/Tianjin Support Team, CDMG, PSS and etc.)
• Cash Management Services/CMS

EXTERNAL

• Client and its delegate
• Stock broker / Prime broker / Trade’s Counter parties
• Custodian bank
• All contractual parties as stated in the Fund’s constitutional documents

Other Responsibilities

• Embed Here for good and Group’s brand and values across the department;
• Automation & digitisation: plan and execute operational enhancements to further automate business processes and unknown opportunities for greater business efficiency and client services
• To deliver service / reports to clients in accordance with requirement and timeline as agreed in Services Level Memorandum and ensure reporting deadlines are met.
• Responsible, or to guide the subordinate, for the daily maintenance of full accounting and client records of several investment funds
• To ensure the client’s instruction are correctly distributed to the relevant parties for execution (e.g. Trade settlement or payment instruction or FS Hubs) with SCB.
• Responsible for fundamental cash monitoring, investment compliance monitoring for the assigned clients.
• Monitor/review all FS daily activities such as cash & trade reconciliation, accurate calculation and posting of fees, expenses, trade capture in accordance with Service Level Memorandum, Fund Offering Memorandum and related documents .
• Reviewing Portfolio Valuations, investment compliance reports or other reporting, as required.
• Deliver service / reports to clients in accordance with requirement and timeline as agreed in Services Level Memorandum.
• Calculating and disbursing payments of fees to the investment manager/advisor, custodian, administrator and other service providers as required.
• Reviewing invoices and disbursing/arranging payments of fund expenses.
• Review details of invoices before passing to KL billing team for issuing invoice to FS’ clients.
• To ensure fund administration services fees are settled by the client on timely manner.
• To support call back activities.
• Establish in-depth knowledge of the funds’ underlying documentation, investment rules, and regulations, KYC, AML, corporate secretary practices, IFRS and US GAAP.
• Supervising and assisting in the preparation of, interim and annual financial statements in connection with the fund’s audit.
• Responsible for the new fund launching / fund transfer-in / fund transfer–out / fund termination, documentation reviews, reporting requirements study, preparing the necessary services level agreement, providing operational comments/advise to the clients, fund managers, other services providers and Sales.
• Setup and review, approve for relevant reporting or static data.
• To approve/setup client template is ACR for report delivery.
• Assist team leader in overseeing daily operational activities of the department including overall management of client portfolios and reporting (including to ensure they are in compliance with relevant regulatory requirements; attending client board meetings and takes minutes etc.).
• Identify operational inefficiencies and make recommendations to management for improvement.
• Oversee attainment of all departmental deadlines (including preparation of client reports) or in accordance with the Services Level Memorandum.
• Communicate with clients, fund managers, and other relevant parties on daily operational issues (under appropriate supervision of Management) and regular services review.
• To liaise with internal customers/stakeholders including legal and compliance and Team leaders to ensure completion of complex or exceptions-based process actions.
• Manage and avoid risks to clients, Bank / Group by ensuring prompt and accurate reporting to clients / management, timely rectification and / or monitoring of any discrepancies.
• To provide positive feedback to clients / Sales / RMs / Product on areas for improvement with the aim of strengthening client relationship and to deepen the wallet of assigned clients.
• To supervise and ensure the services supports (hub centre, e.g. Chennai/KL/Tianjin) are met with the agreed services level.
• To handle client’s due diligent questionnaires / site visit.
• To ensure compliance to all established procedures, regulations and the Group Guidelines.
• To keep abreast of changes (internal and external) affecting Clients and communicate such changes, along with impact analyses, on a pro-active basis, through newsflashes, market insights, operations guides and through other routine communication.
• To record any issues or compliment or complaint in CRM/GEMS system and escalate the issues if necessary.
• To review the email for external party as prepared by subordinator to avoid any data leakage.
• To support Country Ops Head and handle and delivery assigned ad hoc project within the deadline.
• To provide accurate statistics relating to Key Risk Indicator (KRI) and Key Performance Indicator (KPI) to help measuring and meet division objectives.

Our Ideal Candidate

• Proven Relevant Degree/Diploma level education, and/or at least 2 years of previous experience within Securities Services industry, including experience in the related fields of Controlling, Audit and Operations which require familiarity with regulations and banking policies with advisory capacity or function, particularly financial service/investment or asset management industry or Insurance, and etc.
• Education: Undergraduate and Above
• Languages: English, Chinese

Role Specific Technical Competencies

• Multifonds
• Business Facilitation
• Manage Change
• Business Governance & Support
• Strategy & Business Model
• Service Delivery & Operations 

Apply now to join the Bank for those with big career ambitions.