AVP, Business Unit Control

JOB SUMMARY / INTRODUCTION

The Global Markets Business Finance team comprises Business Unit Control, Independent Price Verification and Central MI and Change Management teams. The team supports the Global Markets and Group Treasury businesses locally and internationally. The unit falls under the Group Finance department and reports to the CFO, CIB Finance & International.

Key priorities of this role include:

• Providing world class financial reporting & support services, adding value through providing professional, independent & objective financial advice which assist in the achievement of business objectives whilst complying with Group policies and standards, and external statutory obligations.
• Production of financial & management accounting reporting statements for the functional area of responsibility in line with Group reporting standards, whilst maintaining a robust control environment.

The Business Unit Control team is responsible for accounting and financial reporting of the Global Markets & Treasury business, acting as a primary control function, and monitoring trading activity to ensure it is in a specified remit. Tasks include Profit & Loss (P&L) reporting decomposition and attribution, dealing with ad hoc management reporting queries, reconciliation and substantiation of P&L and Balance Sheet between the General Ledger (Oracle General Ledger & OneSumX) and Source (e.g. Murex).

This role is focused on the day-to-day tasks related to the International Business Unit Control function, such as daily preparation and control of P&L, general ledger reconciliations and variance analysis, explanations, commentaries, and MI reporting.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Follow all relevant departmental policies, processes, standard operating procedures, and instructions so that work is carried out in a controlled and consistent manner.
• Demonstrate compliance to organization’s values and ethics at all times to support the establishment of a value drive culture within the bank.
• Contribute to the identification of opportunities for continuous improvement and sustainability of systems, processes and practices considering global standards, productivity improvement and cost reduction.
• Assist in the preparation of timely and accurate statements and reports to meet department requirements, policies and quality standards.
• Finance business partner and trusted advisor on reporting and day-to-day support of the Global Markets business, providing prompt and effective support to the Global Markets Front Office, Market Risk, Group Treasury, Group Financial Planning & Analysis, Group Financial Reporting and Business Unit Control management.
• Comprehensive P&L analysis including detailed analysis and interpretation of daily results, variances, risk positions, realized and unrealized P&L components, revaluation curve movements with P&L attribution, new deals, cancelled and amended trades and price / rate validation.
• Key liaison for sales reporting playing a vital role between GM Products and Sales, which includes segmental & coverage-based reporting.
• Key business finance contact for all Global Markets Front Office related queries, leading discussions, as appropriate, with Front Office to ensure P&L analysis is agreed. Act as one of the prime points of contact across all processes in order to ensure all customer needs are being met.
• Provide relevant support to VP, Business Control Unit, ensuring all business transacted is ‘compliant, safe and sustainable’.
• Compilation of all daily revenue reporting for the business, ensuring the accuracy and integrity of source system interfaces into the General Ledger.
• Provide independent validation of the financials reported for the GM businesses by maintaining a robust control framework between FO and reported financials. Maintain a strong understanding of the products traded and the trading strategies within the business.
• Understanding of specific business models, analysis of structured deal packages and application of appropriate accounting standard thereupon. To provide professional & ethical behaviors by ensuring compliance with external legislation, bank standards, internal operating policies and procedures.
• Managing the day to day and month end controls of P&L and Balance Sheet reconciliation, substantiation and reporting for GM.
• Support of new business requests, ensuring they are controlled through the existing or new system architecture, providing responsive support to front office, ensuring “speed to market” of new products.
• Manage projects driven by new regulatory requirements in local and international locations to ensure the key criteria of the regulation is met in a sustainable, efficient and effective manner.
• Line of Business and Desk level commentary with market relevance when internal P&L thresholds are breached.
• Ensure compliance and control of specific accounting processes and practices for proposed new product initiatives or product variations.
• Responsible for identifying issues which impact GM and implementing solutions.
• Act as a central point of contact for Group Finance functions and Global Markets desks: Financial & Regulatory Reporting, Treasury, FP&A, Tax, Financial Control relating to GM Products, and Valuation Control.
• Maintain Key linkages & strong working relationships with Desk Heads, Head of Business Finance, Senior Management, Group Finance, Middle Office, Operations, Business Finance peers Internationally, FP&A, I.T, Market Risk, Legal, Compliance, Operational Risk, Regulators, Internal & External Audit.
• Support Head of Business Unit Control to work with Treasury on FTP, capital & liquidity matters affecting GM Products as required. Provide input to wider Finance strategy activities and strive to work together effectively on overall regional and global programs.
• In conjunction with FP&A, continuously assess the quality of service provided to the principal customers and strive to ensure that the area adds value to their objectives through the provision of accurate and valuable financial data and advice.
• Ensure BUC adopt a proactive attitude to changing environments, both internal and external, and provide value added solutions for Global Markets Finance business partner and trusted advisor on reporting and day-to-day support of the Global Markets business.
• Engender and role model a culture of continuous improvement, ensuring that operations are kept continually under review and that all opportunities for re-engineering and achieving economies of scale are identified, implemented.
• Escalate any issues to the management and assist in mitigating any operational risk.
• Review existing systems / processes / procedures and MIS to proactively identify areas of improvements.
• Use of sophisticated arithmetic models for numerical analysis and evaluation. Writing papers on strategy or other complex issue with logical sequencing and supporting recommendations. Synthesizing information from a variety of sources and extracting relevant concepts / themes.
• Preparing and delivering presentations with context across business functions to deliver maximum impact.
• Participate in the identification of opportunities for continuous improvement and sustainability of systems, processes and practices considering global standards, productivity improvement and cost reduction.
• A proven ability to operate effectively at various organization levels & a willingness to adopt a hands-on approach to problem solving where appropriate.
• Good relationship management skills are essential in this role as the candidate will be working closely with internal stakeholders to constantly improve operational performance.
• Functions within the framework and boundaries of Group policies as well as overall organizational and governance frameworks.

REQUIREMENTS / QUALIFICATIONS

• 3-5 years’ experience in a Product Control Function.
• Experience in developing Financial and other MI reporting, automating processes.
• Technical knowledge in Pricing and Accounting Financial products - Fixed Income, MM, FX, IR, Com, Equities & Derivatives (Vanilla & Complex).
• Strong understanding of Global Markets and Investment Banking products, with related Technical and Accounting treatments.
• Excellent understanding of modern governance, risk and control assessment techniques.
• Strong financial Math (zero, par, and forward / forward curves).

Preferred / Beneficial

• Qualified Professional (ACA / CFA / MBA in Finance) preferred.
• Working knowledge and experience in Murex, SumX, PowerBI, T24 systems is an advantage.