Sanctions Compliance Officer

The Compliance Department at Société Générale is responsible for overseeing compliance with laws, regulations, guidelines, and policies that apply to the firm’s banking and financial activities, particularly in the areas of anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism financing, sanctions & embargoes, know-your-customer obligations, client protection, market integrity, anti-bribery & corruption, data protection and client tax transparency.

The Compliance Department enables the firm to operate according to essential compliance standards, ensures that Société Générale’s non-compliance and reputation risks are controlled, while supporting the business with existing activities and in the development of new products or services. Compliance acts as a second line of defense, developing and implementing policies, procedures, and controls, monitoring activities, advising the business, assessing risks, and providing training to ensure understanding and application of requirements, contributing to spread a culture of compliance within the Group.

Société Générale’s US Financial Crime Compliance (“FCC”) Department is responsible for ensuring compliance with anti-money laundering (“AML”), Bank Secrecy Act, USA PATRIOT Act, OFAC and sanctions regulations for the operations of SG in the U.S.  The Department performs, among other responsibilities, AML transaction monitoring and SAR filing, OFAC screening and reporting, as well as advisory and control functions across SGUS bank and broker dealer businesses.  The Department is also responsible for the management of the tools used for sanctions screening and AML transaction monitoring.

ABOUT THE JOB:

The Sanctions Compliance Investigations Team is responsible for reviewing and investigating all potential violations of OFAC, E.U. and other sanctions program processed through or otherwise involving SGUS. This includes reviewing alerts on transactions and static data for matches to the OFAC, E.U. and any other applicable lists, reviewing and approving OFAC-licensed transactions, investigating potential matches, reporting blocked property or rejected transactions to OFAC, investigating and drafting Voluntary Self-Disclosures to OFAC, training business lines and SGUS Employees on OFAC/Sanctions issues, liaising with relevant business lines on alerts and sanctions incidents, and coordinating with the Head Office/Group Sanctions Compliance on global investigations, as appropriate.  The team is functionally divided into two core functions – Alerts Management and Sanctions Remediation.

This role supports the Sanctions Investigations team in accomplishing one of its key responsibilities, the review of static and live transactional alerts for potential matches to OFAC, EU, and other targets. Working closely with OFAC SMEs, the role analyzes transactions escalated to Sanctions Compliance to determine permissibility within the scope of assigned duties.

What will be your DAY-TO-DAY?

Support the Head of Investigations and the Sanctions Alerts Management Lead in matters related to sanctions alert management. The position reports to the VP, Sanctions Alerts Management Lead.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

  Alert Management and Investigations:  Conduct thorough analysis of escalated live transaction and static data alerts within scope of delegated responsibilities.

  Evaluate and document potential matches against sanctions lists, following established protocols for review and handling of sanctions alerts.

  Draft and articulate recommendations based on the investigation with a clear rationale and supporting evidence.

  Escalate matters to team members and management as appropriate.

  Compiling metrics and other key data points to address sanctions risk as required.

  Identify OFAC compliance issues/concerns and make suggestions and/or take corrective action to implement solutions to improve controls/operations.

As needed, assist in projects, task forces, and working groups related to sanctions alerts management.

Skills and Qualifications:

 Must Have:

 ·      3 years of work experience in a compliance or regulatory affairs capacity, with at least one year focused on sanctions compliance. This experience can be gained from either the private or public sector, or any combination thereof.

·      Experience evaluating live transactions for sanctions indices. Previous work with OFAC sanctions is highly preferred.

·      Familiarity with OFAC and EU sanctions regulations and USA PATRIOT Act.

·      Strong attention to detail.

·      Ability to multitask and manage multiple deliverables and a range of OFAC risk management responsibilities.

·      Strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills.

·      Excellent research and analytical skills.

·      Ability to conduct legal and investigative research utilizing open-source and private research systems.

·      High ethical standards, as well as respect for confidentiality and privacy. 

·      Proficiency with word processing, computer applications, databases and spreadsheets including but not limited to: MS Word, Excel, Outlook, and SharePoint.

Nice to Have:

 ·      Familiarity with FircoSoft and PEGA is a plus.

LANGUAGE: 

Ability to communicate in English, both orally and in writing, is a requirement as the person in this position will need to collaborate regularly with colleagues and partners in the United States.

Due to US Federal Securities law applying to this position, candidates who will apply for this position will be required to submit to an enhanced background screening, including the collection of their fingerprints by a third-party vendor selected by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA")

OUR BENEFITS:

WHAT WE DO DIFFERENTLY AT SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE

Competitive compensation & benefits offering, including but not limited to:

• Minimum of 20 Vacation days + 4 personal days 
  • Supportive Maternity, paternity, parental and adoption leave policy 
  • Health spending ($2,000/year) and personal spending ($1,000/year) accounts with 75+ eligible reimbursement categories (health, training, electronics etc.)

Fully sponsored virtual healthcare assistance and Employee Assistance Program to you and your immediate family

Various Employee Resource Groups (ERG) to engage with such as Pride and Allies, American Women Network, Black Leadership Network, One planet, etc.

• A culture of continuous development by encouraging our employees various training programs (online training and coaching platform such as Coursera, GoFluent, Pluralsight, First Finance, and others)

Societe Generale is committed to offering an inclusive recruitment experience to all candidates. If you require any reasonable accommodations during the recruitment process, please do not hesitate to let our Recruiters know.

OUR CULTURE: 
At Societe Generale, we live by our 4 core values of commitment, responsibility, team spirit and innovation. We are engaged and demonstrate consideration for others. We act ethically and with courage. We focus our talent and energy on collective success. We experiment and propose new ideas. This way, we maximize our ability to serve client needs and anticipate market changes. Societe Generale is committed to strengthening bonds with colleagues, communities, and the world in which we live, because relationships are at the heart of how we operate. For more information about our Culture and Conduct initiatives, please visit this link (https://americas.societegenerale.com/en/careers/get-know-culture/)

D&I: 
Our Diversity & Inclusion Mission: Recruit, develop, advance, and retain a diverse workforce that is united in our efforts to enhance our competitive position and deliver innovative solutions to our clients.
Our Diversity & Inclusion Vision:

• Engaged workforce that is demographically diverse in a way that reflects the communities in which we operate
• Inclusive culture and workplace that recognizes employees' unique needs and utilizes their diverse talents
• Engage our community and marketplace, and position the organization to meet the needs of all its clients

For more information about our D&I initiatives, please visit this link (https://americas.societegenerale.com/en/societe-generale-about/diversity-and-inclusion/)

HYBRID WORK ENVIRONMENT:
Societe Generale offers a hybrid work arrangement that offers employees the flexibility to work remotely, as well as on-site, in order to promote interaction and collaboration with colleagues while adhering to all SG standard protocols.  Hybrid work arrangements vary based on business area.  The applicable business lines will determine and communicate the work arrangements that best meet their business needs.