Vice President, Legal Counsel - 12 month FTC

Do you want your voice heard and your actions to count?

Discover your opportunity with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), one of the world’s leading financial groups. Across the globe, we’re 150,000 colleagues, striving to make a difference for every client, organization, and community we serve. We stand for our values, building long-term relationships, serving society, and fostering shared and sustainable growth for a better world.

With a vision to be the world’s most trusted financial group, it’s part of our culture to put people first, listen to new and diverse ideas and collaborate toward greater innovation, speed and agility. This means investing in talent, technologies, and tools that empower you to own your career.

Join MUFG, where being inspired is expected and making a meaningful impact is rewarded.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (“MUFG”) is one of the world's leading financial groups. Headquartered in Tokyo and with approximately 350 years of history, MUFG is a global network with around 2,300 offices in over 50 countries including the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia and Oceania, and East Asia. The group has over 150,000 employees, offering services including commercial banking, trust banking, securities, credit cards, consumer finance, asset management, and leasing.

As one of the top financial groups globally with a vison to be the world's most trusted, we want to attract, nurture and retain the most talented individuals in the market. The size and range of MUFG's global business creates opportunities for our employees to stretch themselves and reap the rewards, whilst our common values, to behave with integrity and responsibility, and to build a culture which is fair, transparent, and honest, underpin everything that we do.

We aim to be the financial partner of choice for our clients, whatever their requirements, building long-term relationships, serving society, and fostering shared and sustainable growth for a better world.

MUFG’s shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York (NYSE: MTU) stock exchanges.  The group’s operating companies include, but are not limited to, MUFG Bank, Ltd., Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking (Japan's leading trust bank), Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Holdings (one of Japan's largest securities firms), and MUFG Americas Holdings.

Please visit our website for more information - mufgemea.com.

The Legal department provides legal services to and manages the legal risk for MUFG Bank and MUFG Securities (EMEA) and the MUSHD international business (collectively the “Firm”).

Members of Legal are dual-hatted across MUFG Bank and MUFG Securities. Dual-hat employees will be expected to be entity neutral across all responsibilities to ensure that services are provided to both entities effective and without favour or detriment to the other entity.

The Legal department’s principal functions are to:

• Provide legal services and legal advice to each international securities business and banking businesses
• Draft, review and negotiate contractual documentation, whether transactional or non-transactional
• Draft notes and other product documentation and arrange for issuance of such notes and products
• Draft, review and negotiate ISDA documentation and related trading agreements and lending (syndicated or bilateral, ECA financings, LMA based or bespoke contractual arrangements)
• Draft, review and negotiate trade finance credit lines and products, as well as trade finance instruments
• Provide legal and execution advice in relation to transactions and new business
• Provide transaction management support for securities issues and financing transactions arranged or underwritten by an international securities business
• Provide support for internal projects (internal restructurings and/or regulatory driven)
• Evaluate legal risk to ensure business is conducted in a lawful and professional manner
• Identify and advise on the implementation of new laws and regulations
• Provide legal oversight of regulatory matters and government affairs
• Manage all disputes, litigation, regulatory proceedings and other contentious matters
• Manage and approve all use of law firms

NUMBER OF DIRECT REPORTS

None.

MAIN PURPOSE OF THE ROLE 

We have an exciting opportunity for a legal counsel to join MUFG EMEA Legal Department as a fixed term contractor for a period of 12 months, based in London. The role is primarily to provide legal support to the project implementation of sponsored clearing infrastructure with respect to US treasury clearing.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

In this role, the successful candidate will be providing services which cover MUFG’s banking arm and securities business under a dual-hat arrangement. Under this arrangement, the employee will act and make decisions on behalf of both the bank and the securities business, subject to the same remit and level of authority, and irrespective of the entity which employs them. Advise on, participate in and implement Firm and International Business transactions, proceedings, actions, projects and initiatives.  This includes activity / projects to improve the delivery of legal services to the business and MUFG’s clients (which may include process improvement, onboarding of technology etc). Advise on the legal, regulatory and reputational issues and market developments arising in transactions and in the non-transactional aspects of the operation and business activities of the Firm and the International Business. Provide legal advice, review draft and negotiate documentation and provide all related transaction management and project management for:

• Trading documentation including GMRA, GMSLA, ISDA, CSA, IM and finance linked hedging documentation
• Clearing document negotiation experience including FOA Module and/or OTC Clearing Agreement
• Operational and financial markets infrastructure, network management and custody agreements
• Inter-affiliate agreements

Provide legal advice on:

• US Treasury Clearing Rules.
• Strategic business initiatives and projects
• Operational and financial markets infrastructure, including trading venues, executing brokers, CCPs and clearing brokers, trade repositories, central securities depositories, settlement systems and currency facilities.
• Jurisdictional risk analysis
• Regulatory programs
• Inter-affiliate activity and agency arrangements.
• New and complex products
• MUFG’s operational risk management and controls framework including advising the business on best practice and solutions for the operational management of legal risk (including required governance structures, frameworks, risk mitigation strategies)

Implement document templates, know-how and procedures. Participate in industry forums and working groups. Participate in working groups and committees of the Firm and the International Business. Manage the engagement of law firms and legal spend efficiently. Provide mentoring and support to junior members of the Legal team.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Functional / Technical Competencies:

• Qualified lawyer in UK or equivalent jurisdiction of at least four years post qualified experience, with relevant experience obtained either in private practice with a major law firm or in-house with another significant financial institution
• Strong technical understanding of derivatives and clearing
• Demonstrate commercial awareness of the latest market issues and regulatory changes
• Demonstrable experience managing senior stakeholders across multiple locations
• Ability to build effective and positive client relationships (internal and external) quickly and fully embrace the importance of client service
• Ability to explain complex legal concepts to a non-technical audience

PERSONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written & verbal
• Effective operating in a team and matrix-oriented environment, and ability to work with colleagues at all levels of seniority
• Proactive and enthusiastic, with an inclination to drive change
• Results driven, with a strong sense of accountability
• Team player with an international outlook
• Pragmatic, curious and commercially minded
• Efficient working style with a good sense of independency, urgency and commercial acumen

PERFORMANCE AND DUTIES

The role holder will be assessed in accordance with their employing entity’s performance framework and process with relevant input obtained from the dual hatting entity as relevant.

As duties and responsibilities change, the job description will be reviewed and emended in consultation with the role holder. The role holder will carry out other duties as are within the scope, spirit and purpose of the role as requested by their line manager or Department Head.

MANAGING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

• The role holder will have responsibilities for both MUFG Bank and MUFG Securities EMEA plc
• The role holder will be required to perform their duties and responsibilities on an entity neutral basis, without favour
• The role holder is required to follow regulatory requirements applicable to ensure each business is appropriately supported and to maintain the legal entity integrity of each of MUFG Bank and MUS
• Working terms are dictated by functional mandates, the terms of the Dual-Hat Arrangement Agreement in place between MUFG Bank and MUFG Securities EMEA plc and any other relevant agreements entered into between MUFG Bank and MUFG Securities EMEA plc
• The role holder will have responsibility for identifying and resolving where there may be a difference or conflict in needs between MUFG Bank and MUFG Securities EMEA plc, escalating to their manager where required

We are open to considering flexible working requests in line with organisational requirements.

MUFG is committed to embracing diversity and building an inclusive culture where all employees are valued, respected and their opinions count. We support the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion in recruitment and employment, and oppose all forms of discrimination on the grounds of age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy and maternity, race, gender reassignment, religion or belief and marriage or civil partnership.

We make our recruitment decisions in a non-discriminatory manner in accordance with our commitment to identifying the right skills for the right role and our obligations under the law.