Financial Crime Compliance Business Change Manager (VN2772)

About Marex

Marex Group plc (NASDAQ: MRX) is a diversified global financial services platform providing essential liquidity, market access and infrastructure services to clients across energy, commodities and financial markets. The group provides comprehensive breadth and depth of coverage across four core services: clearing, agency and execution, market making, and hedging and investment solutions. It has a leading franchise in many major metals, energy and agricultural products, with access to 60 exchanges. The group provides access to the world’s major commodity markets, covering a broad range of clients that include some of the largest commodity producers, consumers and traders, banks, hedge funds and asset managers. With more than 40 offices worldwide, the group has over 2,300 employees across Europe, Asia and the Americas.

For more information visit https://www.marex.com/

The Global Financial Crime Compliance team comprises c.20 full time staff based in London, New York, and Chicago, supported by a further c.7 (FTE) staff based in other international offices.

We are a small team covering the full breadth of financial crime risk management and across the Firm’s broad and growing product and geographical range. As such, we look for new hires who have the aptitude to work across the breadth of activities a financial crime compliance function performs.

The Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) function forms part of the Second Line of Defence in the Firm's Three Lines of Defence model.

FCC is responsible for designing and maintaining a robust financial crime prevention framework that (i) manages our financial crime risk in line with our risk appetite (ii) meets legal and regulatory obligations in all the jurisdictions in which we operate and (iii) harnesses industry practice and standards.

As part of its role, FCC provides oversight and challenge of First Line of Defence’s financial crime risk management activities and associated systems and controls.

The Financial Crime Compliance Business Change Manager is responsible for leading the FCC due diligence process for acquisitions and material business change initiatives, ensuring the Firm understands the target entity’s product offering, business activities and can assess the financial crime risk footprint prior to execution.

Leading the assessment of financial crime risks for the target entities / proposed business change will include understanding the target’s customer base, products, geographies, and delivery channels; determining the inherent risk, evaluating key controls and potential gaps, and recommending strategic harmonisation initiatives to streamline the Marex Group financial crime control framework post go-live.

This role operates pre acquisition / pre implementation and works closely with the Financial Crime Compliance Controls Manager (who is responsible for post acquisition integration) to define post go-live requirements, and support a structured handover into the integration phase.
While the primary focus of this role is the acquisition/business change activities described above (c.80%); depending on FCC priorities and capacity, the individual may also support other second line financial crime projects and therefore breadth of financial crime knowledge and experience is key.

Responsibilities:

1. Lead FCC due diligence for acquisitions and material business change, including scoping, planning and executing time sensitive assessments to support decision making and governance. This may include:
     a. Assessing the target entity’s customer base and distribution model
     b. Understanding the products and services offered, including delivery channels and transactional flows
     c. Understanding geographic footprint (customers, operations, booking locations and jurisdictions of exposure)
     d. Assessing the effectiveness of the financial crime control framework (policies, standards, governance, and operating model)
     e. Understanding key control coverage and effectiveness (e.g., onboarding/KYC, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring and investigations/escalations)
     g. Identifying material gaps, and recommending remediation requirements where necessary
2. Execute and document a holistic financial crime risk review of a target entity / proposed change, referencing Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Counter Terrorist Financing (CFT), Proliferation Financing, Tax Evasion, Sanctions, ABC and Fraud where applicable.
3. Produce clear due diligence outputs (e.g. findings log, and decision papers).
4. Recommend strategic initiatives to streamline the financial crime control framework post-acquisition / post-business change for handover to the Financial Crime Compliance Controls Manager.
5. Meticulously track multiple change projects and due diligence workstreams in time sensitive conditions, maintaining action trackers and escalating material risks and issues to FCC Leadership as appropriate.
6. Partner with Technology and data stakeholders to understand the target entity’s systems landscape and data availability for financial crime purposes (e.g., screening/monitoring, onboarding/KYC, transaction monitoring) and define key integration considerations and dependencies for the post acquisition plan.
7. Liaise with internal stakeholders across Transformation and Change, Legal, On Boarding, IT, Compliance and Risk to obtain inputs, validate findings, coordinate responses, and ensure financial crime requirements are understood and addressed in the deal/change timetable.
8. Assess Financial Crime Compliance considerations arising from proposed business change (e.g., new products, geographies, delivery channels, customer types, and operating model changes) and advise on required controls, governance, and approvals prior to implementation.
9. Document the FCC acquisition / business change due diligence process for governance, oversight and auditability.
10. Coordinate with the Financial Crime Compliance Controls Manager to ensure due diligence findings translate into a deliverable, prioritised integration project plan.

Skills & Experience:

• Approx 7 years’+ Financial Crime experience in financial services, preferably in Commodities and/or Global Markets
• Experience undertaking FCC due diligence for acquisitions and/or material business change, including producing clear findings, risk assessments and recommendations for senior stakeholders
• Demonstrable ability to understand a target entity’s product offering, customer base, geographies and delivery channels, and to assess financial crime inherent and residual risks, control effectiveness and material gaps
• Able to display judgement and understanding of core financial crime risk concepts, including how risk appetite, control frameworks and regulatory expectations apply in M&A and business change contexts
• Experience working in a regulated environment and knowledge of the risk and compliance requirements associated with this

• Meticulous attention to detail, particularly when conducting time sensitive acquisition/business change due diligence, documenting findings, and assessing control design and effectiveness.
• Exceptional written skills: able to articulate issues and risk precisely.
• Organised and methodical, with the ability to manage multiple concurrent acquisition due diligence and business change activities, track deliverables, and maintain clear action logs.
• Stakeholder management: has the skills and desire to build relationships with colleagues across the organisation. We are looking for individuals that people enjoy working with.
• Strong understanding of financial crime risks and controls (across AML, CFT, Sanctions, ABC etc.), including the ability to assess a target entity’s systems/controls landscape and define integration considerations.
• Willing and able to develop a strong understanding of complex product offerings across commodities and global markets.
• Open to robust challenge, able to both defend their position and change it based on logic and judgement.
• Execution focused with high levels of personal effectiveness and the ability to deliver complex acquisition due diligence and change workstreams at pace, articulating risks clearly and confidently to stakeholders
• Proficient in Microsoft Excel and other tooling to track due diligence actions, and produce clear reporting for governance

Competencies:

• A collaborative team player, approachable, self-efficient and influences a positive work environment.
• Demonstrates curiosity.
• Resilient in a challenging, fast-paced environment.
• Excels at building relationships, networking and influencing others.
• Strategic collaborator with insight and agility, able to anticipate future challenges, ensuring operational effectiveness.

If you’re forging a career in this area and are looking for your next step, get in touch!
Marex is fully committed to being an inclusive employer and providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process for all. We will provide reasonable adjustments to remove any disadvantage to you being considered for this role. We value the differences that a diverse workforce brings to the company. We welcome applications from candidates returning to the workforce. Also, Marex is committed to avoiding circumstances in which the appearance or possibility of conflicts of interest may exist within the hiring process.
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