VP - APAC GCS

Job Description

About Legal

Managing Barclays' Legal risk is the fundamental responsibility of the Legal function. Our mission is 'to protect and create value for Barclays by managing legal risks and advancing opportunities', i.e. to protect and build the bank. Our role includes:

• Provision of business coverage and support, including commercial contracts, employment, intellectual property and transactional / deal support
• Oversight of regulatory relations
• Management of litigation portfolio
• Management of competition law investigations
• Regulatory strategy and policy

About GCS
GCS is responsible for the negotiation of master trading documentation for the firm’s global markets business, with regional teams situated in the Americas, APAC and EME supporting the respective regions. The range of master agreements managed by the GCS team includes the ISDA, GMRA, GMSLA and local law derivatives master documentation, securities financing documentation and certain prime services documentation. During the course of negotiations, GCS interacts with both internal and external clients and ensures that documentation entered into are in compliance with regulatory requirements, risk management frameworks and internal Barclays Policies and Policy Standards

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­[For all perm job adverts except for the US where the mandatory EEO statement must be included please include the following statement “We are an equal opportunity employer and we are opposed to discrimination on any grounds.” or local/legislative Diversity and Inclusion wording]

Working Flexibly

We’re committed to providing a supportive and inclusive culture and environment for you to work in. This environment recognises and supports ways to balance your personal needs, alongside the professional needs of our business. Providing the opportunity for all our employees, globally to work flexibly empowers each of us to work in a way that suits our lives as well as enabling us to better service our customers’ and clients’ needs. Whether you have family commitments or you’re a carer, or whether you need study time or wish to pursue personal interests, our approach to working flexibly is designed to help you balance your life. 

If you would like some flexibility then please discuss this with the hiring manager

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­[For all perm job adverts except for the US where the mandatory EEO statement must be included please include the following statement or local/legislative Diversity and Inclusion wording]

We are an equal opportunity employer and we are opposed to discrimination on any grounds.”

Overall purpose of role

The candidate will be involved in the negotiation of master trading documentation for the firm’s global markets business and be recognised as a subject matter expert on the master agreements managed by GCS. The candidate will also be expected to maintain a strong risk and control environment, actively contribute to the team’s knowledge base and knowledge share with other members of the team.

Key Accountabilities

• Produce/draft contract documentation for identified counterparties across a variety of financial products and counterparty types using standard Barclays contract templates.
• Negotiation of various contracts and agreement types across various counterparty types and APAC jurisdictions (ex-Japan)
• Negotiation of regulatory margin related documents (e.g. Initial Margin, Variation Margin documentation)
• Liaise with stakeholders (which may include Treasury, trading desks, Credit Risk, Collateral Management Services and Business etc) to progress negotiations
• Perform due diligence checks on client’s capacity and authority to enter into documentation
• Review legal opinions from external counsel in the context of close-out netting, capacity and enforceability issues
• Support other negotiators in connection with key client facing terms and conditions entered into with clients, including drafting of variations and working closely with Markets lawyers on issues associated with those variations
• Perform execution checks on negotiations completed by other team members, highlighting gaps in approvals obtained/drafting/processes and interaction between systems (e.g. ECF, Agreement Management and Unity)
• Support work related to systems and information technology such as e-closing forms and agreement management.
• Update Agreement Management (Legal’s internal system) on a regular basis, to ensure that it correctly reflects the status of each in-flight negotiation
• Manage Legal GCS projects within a clearly defined framework that emphasises strong commercial management alongside quality and timely legal deliverables.
• Manage risk and control effectively by applying applicable risk frameworks and embedding a positive risk culture.

Stakeholder Management and Leadership

• Strong understanding of Barclays’ policies (Treasury, Trading, Credit) and ability to apply policy requirements consistently to daily decision when negotiating documentation
• Assist in responding to day-to-day queries from the Business or stakeholders or infrastructure teams
• Value-adds to the team by contributing to team know-how folders, e.g. updating outdated know-how/templates, identifying commonly encountered client requests and sharing approaches
• Assist with preparing management reports
• Review and update agreement templates, including providing guidance in the context of jurisdictional nuances or counterparty types

Decision-making and Problem Solving

• Able to work independently and effectively within time, resource and budget constraints and is capable of making routine decisions independently
• Strong legal analytical skills, ability to identify potential legal risks and issues and employ appropriate solutions
• Strong communication, influencing and negotiation skills
• Be familiar and up-to-date with regulatory developments and requirements, in order to ensure documents signed are in compliance with applicable laws and regulations

Risk and Control Objective

Ensure that all activities and duties are carried out in full compliance with regulatory requirements, Enterprise Wide Risk Management Framework and internal Barclays Policies and Policy Standards.

Person Specification

• Experience with ISDA negotiations; or other relevant master agreements commonly used in the financial market.
• Experience with industry standard derivatives documentation for e.g. OTC derivatives, exchange-traded Futures, product definitions published by ISDA 
• Experience with regulatory margin requirements, e.g. Initial Margin requirements/Variation Margin requirements under the various regulatory regimes
• Has strong understanding of key legal and non-legal risks, and partners with others to manage them
• Assists in the design and implementation of projects and other longer-term objectives
• Able to manage projects and matters independently
• Works effectively within time, resource and budget constraints
• Able to communicate effectively and manage relationships with both colleagues and internal and external clients
• Builds strong relationships, especially with other colleagues in the Legal function
• Displays initiative and commitment, and builds trust

Essential Skills/Basic Qualifications:

• Tertiary/University or Bachelor Degree (LLB or equivalent)
• Strong legal analytical and drafting skills, communication, time management and organisational skills
• Experience with industry standard derivatives documentation, or other relevant master agreements commonly used in the financial market, for e.g. OTC derivatives, repurchase transactions, securities lending transactions, familiarity with regulatory margin requirements of relevant regimes

Desirable skills/Preferred Qualifications:

• Ability to work independently but is also able to work well in a team environment
• Strong ability to navigate through various IT systems used by the Legal function, e.g. our document management systems, Sharepoint, Jetbridge