Estate & Tax Planning Attorney​/Trusts and Estates - General Attorney

Estate & Tax Planning Attorney / Trusts and Estates - General Attorney in Ang Mo Kio, Singapore (General)

Job Title AVP/VP, Private Trust Business Development Manager, Private Banking, Consumer Banking Group

• Analyze trust documents for legal, tax, administrative, and investment issues and coordinate the delivery of services.
• Make recommendations regarding how the Trustee shall exercise discretionary powers.
• Apply comprehensive knowledge of trust law and trust administration to client-specific planning exercises and trust administration.
• Collaborate with Group Legal & Compliance and/or external lawyers and professional advisors to resolve tax and legal issues.
• Knowledge of internal procedures involving discretionary/reserved powers distributions, trust administration, bank account opening/closing, and investments is advantageous.
• Address questions raised by beneficiaries, power holders, protectors, and their advisors.
• Work both independently and in a team-based environment.
• Ensure consistent application of Trustee and Bank policies and procedures and represent them at relevant governance and oversight committees.
• Partner with clients' other advisors (attorney, accountant).

• Attend to inquiries from Wealth Planners and Relationship Managers on pipelines and proposed trust structures.
• Maintain and update the template library of onboarding documents and guidelines.
• Review legal/tax opinions and amendments to trust deeds and other template documents, liaising with Wealth Planners & professional advisors on proposed amendments.
• Highlight key points of the trust structure, customized documents, and legal/tax opinions to Trust Managers & Trust Operations for proper execution & administration.
• Maintain the Register of Pipelines and prepare regular updates and reports on the progress of prospects to management.
• Attend new trust handover meetings to provide clarification on customized structures and highlight any special administration or accounting requirements as necessary.

• Maintain trust administration templates and draft amendments as necessary for customized transactions and structures.
• Provide guidance to Trust Managers and Trust Operations on structures requiring special handling for legal, regulatory, accounting, or tax matters and liaise with professional advisors as necessary.
• Liaise with Legal & Compliance and external lawyers, providing guidance to Trust Managers on necessary action steps for complaints, litigation, and disputes.
• Coordinate ad-hoc projects to remediate structures pursuant to changes in legal, regulatory, and tax landscape.
• Assist in coordinating and supporting the trust company’s governance functions (semi-annual board meetings, regular sub-committee meetings, taking minutes, maintaining terms of reference, etc).

• Monitor and analyze changes to legal, regulatory, and tax changes impacting trust structures and trust administration.
• Liaise with Group Legal & Compliance and/or external lawyers and professional advisors to obtain necessary professional advice, and finalize action steps for new business and existing trusts (obtain fresh legal opinion, restructure trust, obtain indemnities, etc).
• Train and educate Trust Managers and Trust Operations on these changes and their impact on trust administration processes.
• Maintain a library of technical resources including legal advice, training slides, etc.

• A bachelor’s degree in Law.
• 4 to 8 years of post-qualification experience, either with law firms in private wealth or trust practice, or with financial institutions engaged in wealth management/private banking business.
• Strong drafting and analytical skills, organized and motivated.
• Strong risk awareness and sound risk management skills.
• Ability to work in a team as well as independently.
• Confidence and ability to deal with all levels of management throughout the bank.
• Ability to demonstrate clear commercial application of legal and regulatory knowledge and to balance legal or regulatory risks against commercial needs.

Salary Information: A competitive salary and benefits package is offered, along with the professional advantages of a dynamic environment that supports development and recognizes achievements.