Vice President/Director, Assistant General Counsel, Equities Legal, APAC

Job Description:

At Bank of America, we are guided by a common purpose to help make financial lives better through the power of every connection.  Responsible Growth is how we run our company and how we deliver for our clients, teammates, communities and shareholders every day.

One of the keys to driving Responsible Growth is being a great place to work for our teammates around the world. We’re devoted to being a diverse and inclusive workplace for everyone. We hire individuals with a broad range of backgrounds and experiences and invest heavily in our teammates and their families by offering competitive benefits to support their physical, emotional, and financial well-being.

Bank of America believes both in the importance of working together and offering flexibility to our employees. We use a multi-faceted approach for flexibility, depending on the various roles in our organization.

Working at Bank of America will give you a great career with opportunities to learn, grow and make an impact, along with the power to make a difference.  Join us!

Job Description:

The Attorney is a member of the Asia Pacific Legal Department. The role will involve providing legal analysis and advice to the business and various support functions in the Asia Pacific region with a primary focus on the expanding structured notes business across Equities and FICC.  From time to time, the role will involve working with other lawyers in the team in relation to other products, including investable indices, OTC derivatives and cash equities, and assisting on other legal department projects or initiatives. The role is located in Hong Kong.

Responsibilities:

• Part of the APAC Equities Legal team comprising 13+ lawyers in HK, Japan and Australia
• Act as the main point of legal contact for the structured notes Trading, Structuring and Sales teams in APAC across Equities and FICC and provide transaction management support for their day-to-day structured note issuances
• Supervise the work of a junior structured note lawyer in providing day-to-day legal support on structured note issuances
• In light of the increase in structured note trade volume, review current work processes of the structured note legal team, identify areas where processes can be streamlined or require enhancements, and implement changes to enhance overall efficiency and ensure high quality legal support for the business teams
• Assist with the development of new product termsheet and final terms templates, and assist on automation of termsheet and final terms generation
• Provide legal support on live trades and transactions over a range of underlying asset classes (including equities, indices, ETFs, funds, interest rates and currencies), including reviewing product termsheets and final terms for new products, handling queries from the desks in relation to note issuances, trade amendments and restructuring, working with internal stakeholders including Treasury, Treasury Legal and legal teams in other regions on structured note issuances originated from APAC, and managing the use of external counsel on the preparation of legal documentation for note issuances
• Negotiate legal documents, including distribution agreements, investor representation letters, index license agreements and confidentiality agreements
• Provide legal support on any new structured note initiatives, including building new issuance capabilities into the issuance programme as required by the desks in APAC, and to assist with the maintenance and update of the issuance programme as needed
• Advise on securities laws issues, selling restrictions, and issues involved in marketing and distribution of structured notes in APAC markets, including working with external counsel to refresh the securities law advice for relevant markets periodically
• Engage and manage external counsel in various jurisdictions to obtain quality advice concerning a range of regulatory issues (including marketing, product distribution and licensing issues)
• Work with other members of the Equities Legal team on other products covered by the broader team (e.g. investable indices, OTC derivatives, cash equities), and other legal teams in APAC, EMEA and the US
• Assist with broader Legal department projects, including assessing the use of AI tools to improve work efficiencies, identifying opportunities to embed AI capabilities into workflows and driving AI adoption
• Work with Compliance, Operations, Risk and other departments to ensure proper risk management, governance and control of business units

Required Skills:

• Mid to senior level lawyer admitted to practise in Hong Kong (or in another common law jurisdiction), with prior experience acquired from top-tier law firms and/or global financial institutions supporting Global Markets businesses, with prior experience working in structured note legal or transaction management team
• Good product knowledge, familiarity with commonly-traded structured products over a wide range of underlying asset classes and different forms of wrappers in APAC markets, and ability to understand trade economics of complex products and work directly with Trading/Structuring teams on new product structures are crucial to the success of this role
• Strong interpersonal, organizational and problem-solving skills
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, demanding and collaborative environment with multiple stakeholders
• Ability to communicate effectively by being clear and concise in oral and written communications, and to ask questions when unsure
• Independent, self-starter capable of prioritizing conflicting demands and handling multiple assignments simultaneously
• Strong interpersonal and social skills with team-work oriented mindset is a must as you will work along side other lawyers in the team to deliver timely advice and guidance to the various business groups
• Strong attention to detail
• Ability to think critically and flexibly, and proactively suggest solutions to achieve the relevant business goals
• Excellent research and legal writing skills
• Willingness to work as a member of a local, regional and global team and strong curiosity in developments/changes in financial practice and environment
• Business level fluency in oral and written English. Chinese language capability is an advantage