Head of International Product Control (EMEA and APAC) recruitment

Purpose of Role:

Senior product controller to cover EMEA and APAC Global markets business. 

This is an area of State Street that has a lot of momentum right now, and in addition to the large product set already on offer, there is a considerable pipeline of new products just coming through that we will have full participation in.

The role will have responsibility for the Product Control of Global Markets for a number of business, namely;

-FX trading (Spot, Forward, NDF, Futures, options eFX business) – includes build out of APAC product control function

-ETD Clearing (Futures, Options) – now expanding to execution

-Broker dealer / Transition Management (Equity, FI) – currently expanding to cover APAC business

-Derivatives Clearing (IRS, CDS,NDFs) – New project kicking off now

-Fund Connect – New initiative kicking off now

-Event Optimisation (Equity swaps, Equity Options) – New project for 2013

-Securities Finance – currency agency sec lending but will be developing principal trading platform soon

The daily role will be to take ownership of the product control related aspects for these businesses as detailed below – PL attribution, off-market, IPV etc . It will also include an element of accounting controls related to these books, principally balance sheet substantiation and PL reconciliation (it is supported by the Financial Control team e.g. who would cover chart of account maintenance).

In addition to the daily responsibilities will be to take the product control lead for a number of new initiatives and product as noted above which is a great opportunity to get involved from inception. The APAC FX product control build-out will likely require travel to the various sites (HK, Sydney, Tokyo) as we develop this function.

Overall, this will be an exciting and dynamic environment in which to lead an upcoming product control group and, as the coverage and scope increases, we expect the size of the team will continue to grow too to meet the demands of the new business, so there is a large growth potential too.

Justification:

Background of the SSGM EMEA Finance group:

The area is Global Markets (GM) which operates out of a number of different entities and branches in the UK and APAC, which are covered by a combination regulators. 

The current GM business in EMEA includes FX, Money market, Futures / ETD, Agency Sec Lending, Sales Trading, Portfolio Solutions desks all traded out of London. In APAC the GM activity is predominantly in FX trading with offices in in HK, Korea, Singapore and Sydney.

We also have a Treasury desk which provides liquidity to all the UK business which holds a significant portfolio of securities.

The Global Markets finance team provides the following functions:

• SSGM Accounting covering a full range of legal entity accounting and financial control framework for UK domiciled companies.

• Business Unit Finance providing management information and decision support to UK business

• Product control and valuations for EMEA and APAC GM trading business

• Treasury and liquidity financial control (securities portfolio, liquidity MI)

In the light of all the new initiatives taking off, a key growth area of the team will be product control. 

The candidate we are looking for must be a strong product controller, with a well-rounded skillset capable of maintaining a presence and influence with senior management, a broad range of product knowledge (but with particular experience of FX products), and also familiar with financial processes, balance sheet reporting and substantiation. 

Specific Duties:

Valuation Control

• Support and maintain valuation governance framework for Global markets products.

• Perform periodic reviews to confirm consistent valuation assumptions and methodologies across the Fixed Income Rates platform.

• Identify areas where models have not been approved or are not adequate for the product being supported.

• Maintain inventory of approved models and curves (including vols).

• Maintain inventory of pricing sources used for independent price testing.

• Administer tolerances used for valuation and price testing.

• Validate pricing inputs, sources and yield curve construction, volatility smiles

• Approve non-substantive model changes escalated by Mid Office.

• Partner with Model Validation Group on substantive model changes.

• Partner with the front office to implement approved non-substantive and substantive changes.

• Document all valuation adjustment methodologies.

• Calculate, document and record monthly valuation adjustments.

• Calculate prudent valuation adjustments related to valuation uncertainty and level 1 concentration.

• Perform new deal risk adjusted profitability analysis

• Maintain policies, procedures and documentation to evidence the effectiveness of the valuation governance control environment.

Product Control

• Review daily PL explain/attribution analysis and reporting.

• Review daily commentary of PL drivers for senior management.

• Resolve daily independent price testing tolerance breaks with Front Office/Mid Office.

• Ensure independent price verification analysis is performed and documented.

• Calculate, document and record monthly valuation adjustments.

• Review balance sheet substantiation/recons.

• Ensure a strong daily control environment of trading PL, including Off-market and cancel amend process and review

• Document policies, procedures and evidence of controls
Maintain and update a key risk control matrix

• Lead new product implementation on behalf of Finance to ensure correct product definition and valuation.

• Prepare figures for financial disclosures

• Ad hoc project work

 

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Specific Qualifications/Skills:

Level of Education:

Previous Level of Experience:

Candidate must have prior product control experience, and highly preferable to have knowledge of derivative products, with a working knowledge around valuation of FX products (including FX options) and the Greeks.

Skills - interpersonal, numerical, problem-solving, analytical, etc

Candidate must be prepared to challenge assumptions, question pnl movements. The candidate will work closely with senior management, middle office, risk and the traders and so the ability to build good working relationships essential.

Disposition - motivation, team skills, ability to work under pressure, etc

Candidate must be able to work well within a small team, thrive on working under pressure and continually look at ways of improving process