Officer, Head of Middle Office

 JOB PURPOSE 
Purpose: 
▪    Ensure accurate, timely valuation and pricing of all funds and mandates.
▪    Support the efficiency of risk management process by promptly identifying key risks and working actively with the risk manager to resolve such risks.  
▪    Providing independent control, oversight, and analytical support over investment lifecycle, trading, and advisory processes.

Approach: 
▪    Work in constant contact with portfolio managers, back office, custodians, registrars, Internal Control, Compliance, Client Service and Risk, and with external stakeholders such as regulators and brokers. 
▪    Extensive due diligence, collaborative mindset, deepened risk management culture, and proactive measures in the discharge of responsibilities.
▪    Continuous personal development in critical technical skills and emotional intelligence and upholding high ethical principles. 

JOB CONTEXT 
Internal Relationship: 
▪    EIL Managing Director
▪    EDC Risk Manager 
▪    Group Head, Securities, Wealth and Asset Management & Investment Banking 
▪    COO, Securities, Wealth and Asset Management business 
▪    EDC Business and Support Function Heads.

External Relationships: 
▪    Rating Agencies 
▪    Auditors 
▪    Trustees 
▪    Custodians 
▪    Fund Administrators

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES 
▪    Perform and independently validate valuations for all funds and mandates, ensuring accurate same-day NAV and pricing, timely communication, and prompt investigation, escalation and documentation of valuation or pricing exceptions.
▪    Perform pre-trade and post-trade controls and independently monitor compliance with client mandates, regulatory limits, Investment Committee and Deal Approval Committee approvals, and internal investment policies, processes and procedures.
▪    Perform critical daily reconciliations across trades, cash, client positions, securities, brokers, corporate actions, bank accounts, valuation systems and custodians; investigate exceptions and maintain comprehensive breach and exception registers with clear escalation, remediation, control evidence and closure tracking.
▪    Produce risk and control dashboards, monitor exposures, perform trend analysis and portfolio analytics, independently verify portfolio performance against approved benchmarks, review performance and income attribution, and maintain the integrity and quality of investment data and system information.
▪    Prepare accurate and timely reports for all investment funds, products and securities transactions, including imminent maturity and coupon trackers, mutual fund NAVs, income attribution, performance, risk metrics, SBPR reports, client service reports, risk research and yield analysis, as well as required inputs for regulators, the Board, Management and the Investment Committee.
▪    Assess and report on concentration, liquidity, counterparty, contagion, credit, interest-rate, market, settlement, model and other relevant investment risks across funds, mandates, business units and products; monitor cash positions, liquidity requirements and upcoming obligations, and promptly escalate material breaches and emerging risks.
▪    Act as the control liaison between Portfolio Management, Sales, Client Service, Operations, Finance, Risk, Compliance, custodians and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that transactional discrepancies and control issues are promptly identified, escalated and resolved.
▪    Monitor trade settlements, corporate actions, maturities, coupon and dividend payments, and other critical portfolio events to ensure timely processing, accurate recognition and effective risk mitigation.
▪    Monitor and support the resolution of investment system and platform issues, while driving the automation and continuous improvement of Middle Office reconciliations, dashboards, recurring reports and control processes using Excel, Power BI and portfolio management systems.
▪    Perform any other activities that may be assigned by the Managing Director and/or Risk Manager.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & EXPERIENCE
Experience & Qualifications
▪    Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Mathematics or equivalent; a Master's degree is an advantage.
▪    Professional qualification such as CFA, CIS, ACCA or FRM is desirable.
▪    Minimum of 3 years in middle office, trade support, risk management or a control function at a bank, asset manager, hedge fund or brokerage.
▪    Proven risk research capabilities.
▪    Experience in internal controls, risk audit assurance and financial reporting.

Technical Skills
▪    Strong knowledge of financial markets, fixed income and equity instruments, investment products and valuation methods.
▪    Strong Excel and very good Bloomberg skills are mandatory; Power BI, SQL and portfolio management systems are expected.
▪    Sound grasp of risk assessment in capital market operations and project management skills.

Languages
▪    Excellent written and spoken English; working French is a strong advantage for francophone affiliates.

Personal attributes
▪    Methodical, rigorous and highly attentive to detail.
▪    Strong analytical, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, with the ability to synthesize information.
▪    Able to manage complex stakeholders and work independently under pressure on several tasks at once.
▪    High ethical standards and a strong risk culture