Director, Trade Surveillance APAC

Department Description

Within Compliance, Capital Markets Surveillance (‘CMS’) team addresses capital markets surveillance of GBS Wholesale Banking activities.  The function’s core activities entail Trade and Communications surveillance activities along with the processing of Significant Shareholding Disclosures for the group.

The Trade Surveillance (‘TS’) mission is to design, implement and review the output of surveillance controls that are intended to detect trading practices that appear to be abusive/manipulative or potentially contrary to regulations or firm policies.

The Communication Surveillance (‘CS’) mission is to implement risk-based systems and controls to review and analyse Communication mediums across SG to identify, escalate and track, through successful resolution, potential anomalies which could be in breach of internal or external rules.

The Trade Surveillance is a global function forming part of the Global Compliance Department, whilst respecting regional obligations and is duly aligned to internal rules, specific regulatory requirements, management expectations and firm policy including the Societe Generale Code.

Trade Surveillance directors are expected to be highly experienced and technical on all markets and exchanges across Asia Pacific. They will need to be hands on, investigating and closing trade alerts, providing guidance and support to less experienced team members.  He/she must actively contribute to improvements to the trade surveillance framework, leveraging on previous experiences and industry best practices and ensure suspicious orders and transactions are identified and reported in a timely manner.  He/she will also be responsible for significant shareholding reporting responsibilities for Asia Pacific.

Responsibilities : 

• Handling alert management (Level 1 control execution, analysis, escalation, reporting if required) of alerts corresponding to his/her assignment.
• Contributing to the implementation of a robust trade surveillance and control framework across APAC, aligned with EMEA and AMER, to detect market abuse / misconduct risks and escalate incidents and possible breaches to relevant stakeholders.
• Providing guidance & expertise to both onshore and offshore teams in executing surveillance and investigation activities, maintaining team production efficiency through regular catchups to ensure consistency in surveillance procedures and adherence to SG Code.
• Handling escalations from more junior staff members who are performing trade surveillance alert reviews, conducting investigations and escalating cases to stakeholders, including local compliance and LOD1 controls / MARK.
• Coordinating with internal stakeholders to ensure timely escalation and effective resolution of surveillance findings, monitoring status and taking appropriate actions to resolve delays.
• Contributing to the prioritization, development and implementation of new /updated scenarios of trade surveillance together with RACR team (Trade Surveillance Risk And Control Review).
• Performing the quality assurance for trade surveillance alerts, ensuring all processes meet established standards.
• Providing training to all team members, including conducting workshops / Q&A sessions / Daily Pulse meetings.
• Overseeing training and development to junior staff to enhance their TS knowledge and skills while monitoring their performance. 
• Reviewing existing operational procedures, guidelines and parameters of TS systems to ensure that the risk appetites and compliance practices are aligned across APAC / Global CMS.
• Identifying and resolving trade surveillance issues arising from regulatory activities undertaken within the region, actively working with relevant BU/SUs as required to ensure the compliance of regulatory expectations.
• Ensuring timely and accurate responses to regulatory requests and enquiries (e.g. s181 Notice, IGAD, CTL), with audit / CTL recommendations duly followed up and implemented. 
• Ensuring important information is communicated to stakeholders via regular meetings (e.g., quarterly Regional CMS Steerco).
• Contribute to the review and analysis of new or amended industry rules, market rules and regulations, when relevant to the department.
• Contribute to the analysis of new business initiatives and assess their potential impact on the surveillance program.
• Implementing projects to support local and global objectives (e.g. ASTRIC, FundApps, Target Operating Model reviews).
• Liaison with global / regional stakeholders for assessing constraints and risks of global/APAC project deployments (e.g. formation of Bernstein JV).
• Contributing to projects and lead where necessary (e.g., backlog management, operational incident management including data and remediation).
• Contributing to TS governance (e.g., participate in TS management meeting, contribute to RACR proposal, contribute to escalations from COM SUR when necessary, review of TS procedures.
• Organize the tasks and production related to substantial shareholding disclosure.
   

Business Skills:

• In-depth knowledge of the regulatory environment and associated risks within the financial sector or regulatory/supervisory body.
• Deep understanding of compliance and trade surveillance risk management and analysis.
• Strong product knowledge on the entity/branch's products, markets, and operational systems.

Leadership Skills:

• Support the Regional Head of Capital Markets Surveillance with all trade surveillance topics, including strategy, data reconciliations, data quality, governance, controls and reporting.
• Possess strong leadership and communication abilities, with a strong emphasis on fostering collaboration.
• Proven experience of overseeing operational processes with a high level of risk awareness.
• Ability to engage with business units as an independent partner, effectively articulating positions while understanding their concerns.
• Demonstrated autonomy and decisiveness in complex situations.
• Commitment to integrity and exemplary conduct.
• Proficient in coordinating and motivating teams, with strong persuasive skills.
• Experience working in a matrix environment, with the ability to collaborate across functions and influence stakeholders.
• Strong organizational skills, with the capability to help structure, engage, and inspire people.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively with cross-functional team.

Technical Skills:

• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, with a well-organized approach to tasks and projects.
• Strong understanding and familiar with the trade surveillance system, such as SMARTS from NASDAQ.
   

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. Please visit our APAC career website: https://www.societegenerale.asia/en/careers/building-your-career-with/ for more information.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I):

Our 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 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
• Check out our DE&I initiatives: https://www.societegenerale.asia/en/careers/diversity-equity-inclusion-dei/
  
  Societe Generale is committed to offering an inclusive recruitment experience to all candidates.  If you require any reasonable accommodations of assistance during the recruitment process, please do not hesitate to let our HR staff know.