Assistant Vice President, Trade Finance Operations - Agency Middle Office

Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking is a leading global financial institution that provides advisory, investment banking, financing, corporate banking and capital markets services to corporations, financial institutions, financial sponsors and sovereign and supranational organizations worldwide.

Our teams of experts in close to 30 countries advise clients on their strategic development, helping them to grow and transform their businesses, and maximize their positive impact. Natixis CIB is committed to aligning its financing portfolio with a carbon neutrality path by 2050 while helping its clients reduce the environmental impact of their business.

As part of Groupe BPCE, the second largest banking group in France through the Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Epargne retail networks, Natixis CIB benefits from the Group's financial strength and solid financial ratings (Standard & Poor's: A+, Moody's: A2, Fitch: A+, R&I: A+).

Main Responsibilities:

Client & Stakeholder Engagement

• Collaborate closely with front-office, back-office, compliance, legal, IT, and other support departments to ensure seamless documentation and transaction monitoring and client satisfaction.
• Proactively engage in client discussion and client events with front-office.
• Deepen client orientation to enhance client journey by respecting the 100% SLA target.
• Support business growth and participate the initiatives in achieving operational excellence, resilience and efficiency.

Operational Duties / Business-as-Usual (BAU)

• Process the day-to-day middle-office operation activities to ensure timely and accurate processing of all Trade Finance documentation and transaction monitoring in accordance with the relevant procedure manual, rules and regulations:
• Credit administrative functions in checking the documentation, monitoring covernants and condition presedent, deal implementation and renewal.
• Agency functions in sydication or participation deals where the bank assumes agency roles such as Facility Agent / Security Agent / Account Bank / Lender role(s). Coordinate the receipt / distribution of Arrangement Fees, Upfront Fees, Commitment Fees etc between Borrower and Lenders if required.
• Transactions monitoring in checking the Comite parameters, utilization, collateral, mark-to-market valuations, KYC, vessel, AML and sanctions.

Governance, Compliance and Risk Management

• Ensure all operations adhere to the bank's policies, procedures and compliance standards.
• Report incidents or potential risks and propose solutions to the manager timely to mitigate the operational and financial risks.
• Perform the CPN1.1 control checks to ensure transactions completion and to flag potential anomalies or risks.
• Perform CPN1.2 sampling quality assurance check timely to identify process lapse or errors for attention and resolution.
• Provide timely returns to the manager on reporting and audits.
• Zero tolerance in sanctions breaches.

Continuous Improvement & Innovation

• Generate and implement ideas on process improvement (Low code/No code) and optimisation to enhance efficiency, reduce turnaround time, minimize errors, and control costs (Lean).
• Participate the projects and UAT related to enhancement, automation and digital transformation.
• Align with the global process convergence.

Required Skills:

• Relevant experience in Trade Finance Middle Office and project management in the Banking Industry.
• Written and Spoken English. Spoken Mandarin & Cantonese is a plus.
• Familiar with Microsoft Windows (Excel, Word). Knowledge on other system tools and AI applications will be an added advantage.