Responsibilities
Description of the Business Line or Department
The UK Governance team (GOV) is part of the CEO office and has been set up with the following mission, in all cases by establishing linkages to Group functions (e.g. GBIS/DIR, Regions, BUs/SUs) to enable two-way exchange of relevant best practices with the UK:
1. Enhance Regulatory Engagement governance
2. Drive Transversal Controls governance
3. Enable sound Transaction governance
4. Support CEO Office on governance
5. Deliver on Corporate & SMF governance objectives.
Whilst there will be opportunities to contribute on diverse topics within the GOV department, the present trainee role will align principally with first two objectives above, which entail specifically:
- Enhancing Regulatory Engagement governance, in coordination with the Compliance department and in collaboration with other relevant "Lines of Defense” (LOD) function, in the context of UK regulatory interactions (with BoE, PRA, FCA + ECB as relevant), to enable i) Examinations preparation (involving the CEO), ii) remediations & improvements development and delivery (under the control and authority of the relevant Senior Management Functions - SMFs), and iii) comprehensive follow-up actions on regulatory expectations
- Driving Transversal Controls governance, i) to design and drive a framework enabling UK Business and Support Units to identify material control gaps / weaknesses and to comprehensively respond to these, ii) to enable conducting effective read-across and root cause analysis relating to key risks and control issues, iii) delivering suitable hands-on coordination on specific permanent control topics across UK BU/SUs, iv) animating relevant fora for COOs and 1st line of defense functions to exchange on permanent control issues and priorities, to foster cohesion, shared understanding and joined-up approaches to anticipating issues.
Summary of the key purposes of the role
The trainee position in the Regulatory & Controls Governance (GOV/RCG) pillar of the GOV team will provide generalist support on the core missions of the team, which comprise notably the following:
UK regulatory engagement governance - the trainee will support GOV in its mission to:
- enable preparation for regulatory examination (from regulators in the UK - PRA, FCA - and ECB visits), in coordination with Compliance and with strong collaboration with impacted BU/SUs,
- facilitate the development and monitoring of the delivery of remediations & improvements (under the control and authority of the relevant SMFs),
- follow up comprehensively on regulatory expectations, notably by ensuring that relevant impact assessments are conducted in the context of consultations and regulatory letters (where these are transversal in nature i.e. common UK-wide response going beyond the remit of any one BU or SU SMF), and that action plans are created, whenever relevant, on both SG-specific and industry-wide communications (under the control and authority of the relevant SMFs)
Transversal controls governance & coordination - the trainee will support GOV in facilitating:
- identification and comprehensive response to material controls gaps / weaknesses identified by LoD1 (self-assessment), LoD2, LoD3, regulators, and external incidents, where these call for a transversal analysis or action plan – identifying / establishing relevant governance venues and associated processes to oversee this, and ensuring the regular running of such processes;
- effective performance of read-across and root cause analysis of issues, establishment of Group linkages to enable two-way exchange of relevant best practices in the above areas
Hands-on coordination on specific permanent control topics across UK BU/SUs, including but not limited to:
- acting as a single point of contact for RISQ/NFR Paris permanent control Supervisor – ex-DGLE/PIC, e.g. for the purpose of conducting regular touchpoints on UK permanent control governance and local control-related developments;
- delivering Internal Control Coordination Committee;
- monitoring the deployment of Library of Normative Controls, in liaison with all UK BU/SU ORM functions and, where appropriate, BU/SU COROs;
- defining list of entity-level permanent control execution KPIs requiring tracking (e.g. via the OpCo), investigating performance issues with relevant ORM function;
- animating relevant fora for LoD1 (COO / BMO / ORM…) and other LoD functions (as relevant) to exchange on permanent control issues and priorities.
- Other tasks may include supporting the consolidation of “inbound business” information across all BU/SUs and annual “Financial Ombudsman Service” reporting.
- In addition to the core objectives above, the trainee position within GOV will provide cross-support on the broader missions of the GOV department in order to help the team deliver on its strategic priorities and objectives. Therefore, this may entail a significant contribution to the deliverables of the other pillars of the GOV team (e.g. Corporate Governance / Corporate Secretariat team, Transaction Governance function), and additional support to the broader CEO Office, if required.
- It is expected that the trainee will gain material exposure to SG UK senior management across all businesses and support functions, under the supervision of the Head of GOV/RCG.
Summary of responsibilities
Support the following core tasks pertaining to GOV’s regulatory and controls coordination responsibilities:
- Regulatory examinations – support the preparation of regulatory engagement and the monitoring of follow-up actions
- Regulatory deliverables – support the delivery of responses to any request made by the regulator that is transversal in nature (i.e. common UK-wide response going beyond the remit of any one BU/SU SMF)
- Regulatory expectations – support in the analysis of regulatory letters (industry-wide or SG-specific), and in the definition of related follow-up actions
Regarding the transversal controls governance & coordination:
- Support the identification and response to material controls gaps / weaknesses, pertaining to audits or other internal findings where the design and/or implementation of any action plan is transversal in nature (involving multiple BUs/SUs)
- Provide support in the analysis of issues and in the preparation of read-across pertaining to issues of various origins, which may include key external industry events/incidents, SG-specific regulatory remediations, internal audit findings, other internal assessments (e.g. RCSA…), or incidents
- Contribute to the coordination on specific permanent control topics under the guidance of the Head of Regulatory & Controls Governance. This may include, for example: supporting the organisation of GOV’s engagement with Business and Support Unit stakeholders, preparing presentation materials, obtaining data on control deployment and results - and monitoring related KPIs, supporting meetings/committees, preparing minutes and follow-up on action plans, organising awareness sessions and deep dives on specific control topics.
- Depending on bandwidth and as necessary, carry out additional tasks relating to the provision of cross-support on the broader missions of the GOV team, to help deliver on priority objectives in the areas of Corporate Governance / Corporate Secretariat team, Transaction Governance, and contributing to the priorities of the broader CEO Office if required.
Profile required
Competencies
- Quick learner and intellectually curious,
- Pro-active stance, willingness to contribute to multiple topics at once,
- Strong communicator, able to engage effectively with stakeholders at all levels in the organisation incl. senior colleagues
- Fluent in English with excellent written skills, confident summarising key messages (e.g. relating to regulatory developments, or external or internal reports)
- Strong analytical and problem solving skills,
- Collaborative team player, keen to foster a positive work environment,
- Able to develop own internal network of contacts within key stakeholder team,
- Excellent time-management and organisation - able to work under pressure and ability to prioritise deliveries in fast-paced and demanding environment,
- Very confident using word, powerpoint and excel,
- Creative and able to propose innovative approaches to issues
