Collateral Specialist

Salary and Benefits: £60,000 – 75,000 (subject to experience) + asset management bonus, excellent pension scheme, private medical insurance, electric vehicle scheme, 38 days holiday incl. Bank Holidays (pro-rated), plus 12x salary life assurance, career breaks, income protection, 3x volunteering days and much more!

Reporting to: Collateral Manager, Asset Management

Job Type:  Permanent

Location: This role will be based in either our London / Telford / Wythall office, with time spent between home and the office, and some travel between our Phoenix offices. You can read more about Phoenix Flex here.

Please note, we will be in touch about your application, post 1st October.

We are pleased to announce an incredible opportunity to join us here at Phoenix Group as a Collateral Specialist to join our Middle Office team, part of the Asset Management function.

Who are we?

We want to be the best place that any of our 6,600 colleagues have ever worked.

We’re the UK’s largest long-term savings and retirement business. We offer a range of products across our market-leading brands, Standard Life, SunLife, Phoenix Life and ReAssure. Around 1 in 5 people in the UK has a pension with us. We’re a FTSE 100 organisation that is tackling key issues such as transitioning our portfolio to net zero by 2050, and we’re not done yet.

Context

Middle Office is a key support function for the Asset Management Function within Phoenix. It has wide ranging accountability ensuring operational control of risk management activities, supporting the Group and AM governance framework, and delivery of investment reporting.

The Role

This is a great opportunity for an experienced middle office, derivative / collateral professional. You will have active participation and Middle Office ownership on process improvement and operating model enhancements to achieve industry leading systems and controls across asset and fund classes. In the same capacity, participate in functional integration of legacy Phoenix risk carriers across procedures and platforms.

The focus of this role is predominantly on collateral servicing for both policyholder and shareholder assets. You will be the dedicated product support for the various Front Office functions, primarily the ALM (Asset Liability Management) teams on collateral activity. Additionally, you will be supporting Portfolio Implementation and Manager Oversight teams on a day-to-day basis; providing key operational input and guidance.

Key Responsibilities

• Collateral Oversight – Ensuring that collateral operational activities are completed and providing ownership to resolve any outstanding issues.
• Be the escalation point for collateral disputes and queries.
• Onboarding new systems – Working with our third-party providers to onboard new system capability and set up internal processes to utilise the tools available.
• Risk and Control – Developing processes and procedures to make sure our collateral operations are functioning within our policy standards.
• Oversight of securities lending activities.
• Supporting the business in meeting regulatory requirements.
• Support onboarding of new collateral agreements (GMRA / ISDA / CSA / CSD).
• Support integration of new business lines emanating from closed book acquisitions, open book, and BPA activity.
• Core understanding of derivatives and CSA structures.
• An understanding of UMR and the implications of Regulatory Initial Margin.
• Manage key relationships –
  • Internal Functions: Markets & Products,Portfolio Implementation, AM Manager Oversight, Middle Office, Cash Management, Investment Operations, Risk Management, & Technology Development Team
  • External Parties: External Portfolio Managers, Third Party Administrators, Platform Service Providers, Custodians, Clearing Brokers

What are we looking for?

Minimum Criteria

Experience / Knowledge

Essential

• Experience of working with derivative products/securities from a middle office or back office perspective.
  • Understanding of pre-trade governance – strategy / investment guidelines / mandates
  • The operational nuances of complex derivative and collateral structures
  • Operational activity – trade enrichment / validation, transaction reporting, settlement, reconciliations.
  • External stakeholders – custodian / clearing broker / counterparty interaction
  • Previously led a team (or dotted line reports) and are able to effectively delegate and collaborate with wider teams.

Desirable

• Broad knowledge of the trade lifecycle of derivatives including derivative documentation (ISDA / CSA and central clearing agreements, specifically novations and porting.
• Functional knowledge of end to end investment management technology / operating models, and downstream consumers / value chain.
• Exposure to business transformation projects, such as onboarding of investment managers, products (cash and derivatives, potentially structured products) or portfolio restructurings.

Personal Attributes & Skills

• Self-starter and independent worker with strong sense of ownership, capable of delivering, driving and shaping results and to meet deadlines under pressure
• Diligent working style with attention to detail and high standards for quality
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with holistic financial thinking
• Excellent organisational and project management skills
• Very good skills in preparing well structured, clean, consistent and client focussed presentations and management information reports
• Agility and vision to adapt processes in an ever-changing environment
• Good communication skills, with the ability to collaborate across a wide range of stakeholders and maintaining effective relationships
• Proficient use of MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint and ideally the Aladdin platform. (Advanced Excel preferred or willingness to learn).

We want to hire the whole version of you.

We are committed to ensuring that everyone feels accepted and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. If your experience looks different from what we’ve advertised and you believe that you can bring value to the role, we’d love to hear from you.

 If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, please let us know so we can help you to be at your best.

Find out more about #LifeAtPhoenix

• Guide for Candidates: thephoenixgroup.pagetiger.com/guideforcandidates
• Find or get answers from our colleagues: www.thephoenixgroup.com/careers/talk-to-us

#LI-SC1