Legal Counsel, Group Commercial

Job Summary

To support the Head, Legal, Group Commercial as a member of the Bank’s Group Commercial Legal Centre of Excellence based in Kuala Lumpur.

The role will have specific focus on delivering legal support and advising on Operational Continuity in Resolution (OCIR) to Stakeholders and Supply Chain Management teams on legal matters relating to OCIR/RRP standards and to ensure such standards are reflected in the Bank’s policies and procedures.

The role will also involve support for procurement and commercial contracts with vendors and other third parties across the Bank’s global footprint.

To provide additional legal support to the Group’s Technology Legal team and Country Legal teams where required on strategic procurement matters.

To Promote a culture and practice of good conduct of business and adherence to legal standards within the Group.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as the primary point of contact for escalations on OCIR legal matters and, where necessary, lead negotiations with third party vendors on OCIR related matters.
• Establish, manage and implement the delivery of legal support across the OCIR Program workstreams including:
• Remediation of existing/legacy contracts (including providing opinions) to address OCIR requirements.
• Supporting Supply Chain Management, Business, Functions and other Legal teams on incorporating OCIR requirements into BAU contracts (i.e. new / renewal contracts)
• Establishing appropriate Bank-wide internal sourcing arrangements to address OCIR Program requirements including Head Office Functions MSA and associated policies e.g. Internal Sourcing Practice Note, ensuring that this sits with other internal sourcing guidelines and contracts
• Build and maintain close relationships with relevant Legal teams to ensure that OCIR regulatory requirements are understood and applied in contracts across the Bank’s footprint and that they are aware of any material updates from regulators. This includes developing and implementing training programs for the
• Legal function on OCIR and other third-party vendor contract remediation requirements.
• Staying abreast of legal and regulatory developments pertaining on OCIR requirements, particularly how such requirements impact contractual arrangements. Promoting awareness and understanding across the Bank on OCIR regulatory/legal requirements and their impact on contractual arrangements, including by
• maintaining an OCIR best practices information library on the Legal Bridge page that contains contract clauses, training materials, news / updates, negotiation guides, FAQs, etc.
• Reviewing, advising, drafting and negotiating global and single country procurement contracts (technology and non-technology) to ensure they meet the Group’s third-party contract standards and applicable law. This will include procurement of software, SaaS, market data, hardware, equipment / device purchases and support / maintenance services, business process outsourcing, professional services arrangements across the global functions and businesses, HR and other functional support services, general goods and services arrangements and intragroup servicing arrangements, including outsourcing.
• To provide helpdesk support for the Group’s Supply Chain Management team and Country Legal teams.
• To analyze potential risks involved with specific contract teams and other risk owners.
• To keep up to date with relevant policies and procedures and applicable law.
• To provide stakeholders with accurate and timely information and advice regarding the status of contract matters.
• To support with continuous improvement initiatives in relation to contract processes, workflow, guidance, playbooks and templates and provide training on contract legal issues to legal teams and other stakeholders.
• To collaborate and coordinate with other legal teams across the Bank to ensure appropriate overall matter management. Where external counsel is appointed, to manage the engagement, oversee the quality of work and effective delivery of legal support and manage external legal costs.
• To support on team management and administration tasks where required.
• Responsible for adhering to the Group Contracts Policy, the Group process for supplier contracts and the Group’s third-party risk management framework.

Regulatory and Business Conduct

• Display exemplary conduct and live by the Group’s Values and Code of Conduct.
• Take personal responsibility for embedding the highest standards of ethics, including regulatory and business conduct, across Standard Chartered Bank. This includes understanding and ensuring compliance with, in letter and spirit, all applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and the Group Code of Conduct.
• Taking personal and team responsibility for achieving the outcomes set out in the Bank’s Conduct Principles.
• Effectively and collaboratively identify, escalate, mitigate and resolve risk, conduct and compliance matters.

Key Stakeholders

• Supply Chain Management
• OCIR / Business Resilience Team
• Relevant Business units 
• Group Commercial, Technology and Country Legal teams 

Governance

• Establish strong relationships with key stakeholders at all levels, while independently performing own duties.

Risk Management

• Provide guidance and support on legal and operational risk identification and management.

Commercial

• Pragmatic, creative and solution-oriented with good judgment and decision-making skills.

Proactive

• Able to use initiative and ready to identify issues without being asked.

Flexible

• Able and willing to work long hours and, at short notice, travel to, and work in, challenging environments for periods of time (if required).

Team player

• Personable, responsible, helpful.

Organised

• Able to prioritise workload and manage conflicting priorities to meet deadlines. Strong attention to detail to highlight potential risks in contracts and errors.

Reliable, Tactful, Discreet, Diplomatic

• Able to work with staff across varying levels of seniority and from different nationalities and cultures.

Self-motivated

• Able to operate independently with minimal supervision.

Energetic

• Enthusiastic about the role, the function and the Group.

Skills and Experience

• Legal Counsel

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s / Master’s degree in related field.
• Must be a qualified lawyer in a common law jurisdiction (solicitor, attorney or barrister) with 7+ years’ post qualification experience.
• Experience in a Legal environment.
• Experience working in a global business / function.
• Prior banking experience is welcome but not a pre-requisite.

About Standard Chartered

We’re an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 170 years, we’ve worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you’re looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents and we can’t wait to see the talents you can bring us.

Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you’ll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion.

Together we:

• Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do
• Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well
• Are better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term

What we offer

In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.

• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
• Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning.
• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies – everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.

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