Associate Analyst

Position Description

The role will provide support to the FICC business division internationally across various CLSA entities in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, UK and US, as FICC operates in many different regulatory jurisdictions.

The person will be working independently to open accounts and onboard new relationships based on CITIC CLSA's required standards and policies.  These relationships may range across sell-side clients, buy-side trading counterparties, brokers, vendors and regulated trading venue operators. 

The role is also responsible for ensuring all counterparty and client related documentation review and collection at inception of the relationships introduced by FICC are properly executed in accordance with CITIC CLSA's required standards.  The person will be working closely with KYC Operations team to approve periodic reviews, refresh of documents for existing relationships and conduct any potential remediation work as a result of internal/external audit and regulatory inspections.

The position is located in Hong Kong where the person is an integral part of the FICC front office operation.

The Analyst role will be expected to have onboarding experience in cash securities trading accounts such as bonds, convertible bonds, funds and/or repo accounts.

The Associate role will be expected to have onboarding experience for FX and Rates Derivative counterparties and must have familiarity with FX agreements, F&O, OTC clear and non-clear derivatives onboarding experience.  Candidate with eFX onboarding experience will be highly favoured.

Key Areas of Responsibilities 

• Follow CITIC CLSA's standards and requirements in dealing with FICC introduced new relationships for account opening and onboarding to trade as well as complete all required documentation for execution for setup into CITIC CLSA's front to back systems for trading and settlement. 
• Guide Sales and Traders during the account opening and onboarding process on the requirements, as each case may differ given the counterparty's investor status and the jurisdiction(s) involved to define the risk-based rating for the prospect.
• Upkeep CITIC CLSA's central account workflow system, GoldTier with the correct constitutional and authority documents at inception and on an ongoing basis with KYC Operations for periodic review, account remediation and documentation refresh work.
• Be able to identify exceptions from CITIC CLSA policies and standards for further clearance from FICC Business Management and AML Compliance Head.
• Support inquiries related to audit and regulatory inspections of FICC and other directives from AML compliance.
• Maintain and upkeep of counterparty/client signatories and authority to trade documentation to facilitate for setup onto FICC's electronic trading venues and for CITIC CLSA to undertake in any manual signatory execution requirement with the counterparty/client.
• Support all systems counterparty/client administration setup for new clients are in place prior to trading and ongoing amendments and changes to be properly reflected in the system prior to trading under new setup.

Requirements

• Strong understanding of international markets' AML & KYC requirements, preferably at least 3 years of direct experience with a financial institution that operates in multiple jurisdictions will be considered for the Associate role, those with less experience may be considered for an Analyst role.
• Direct experience in independently dealing with account opening workflow system in a global financial institution preferred and familiarity with the various steps in achieving full compliance to deal with account opening using the international AML risk-based approach to define a counterparty's risk rating will be preferred.
• Ability to explain FICC markets' pre-trade process (e.g. DvP cash, ISDA CSA setup & GMRA setup, eFX onboarding requirements) to handhold Sales, Traders and Clients through the account opening process for onboarding will be a major plus.
• Familiarity of trading agreements used in the international FICC markets, eFX agreements, CDEA for OTC derivatives, ISDA, GMRA, VM/IM CSA and their downstream operational impacts.   Associate level must have hands on experience in this area.
• Good prioritization, organisational and multi-tasking skills
• Self-motivated, desire to be challenged and eager to learn.
• Knowledge of SFC requirements around Hong Kong Professional Investors desirable
• Attention to detail and process oriented
• Proficient in PowerPoint, Word and Excel
• At least an undergraduate degree in Finance, Economics, Business, Law or of a similar nature.
• Good communication skills (verbal and written) are a must-have. Fluency in English a must due to constant review of constitutional and authority documents as well as regulatory rules, Business Mandarin/Cantonese is desirable but not mandatory.