Business Acceptance Manager

Main information

Advanced

Term type:

Permanent

Team:

Risk & Ethics / Central Compliance Unit

Location:

Belfast

The role

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Business Acceptance Manager to assist with the ongoing development of the CCU function working closely with partners, legal advisors and the wider risk directorate.

The CCU team work across all of our offices and enjoy a position as the engine room of the business. CCU ensures that the firm complies with key regulatory and legal obligations around conflicts of interests and anti-financial crime prevention. The Business Acceptance Manager will ensure that onboarding processes are embedded into the firm’s culture whilst championing the commercial needs of our business.

As well as acting as an escalation point for complex queries, the Business Acceptance Manager will take responsibility for the day-to-day development and management of the CCU team – which includes trainees, analysts, specialist and senior specialists. The Business Acceptance Manager will focus on operational efficiency to ensure the firm’s lawyers can focus on what matters – advising our clients, at the same time as ensuring gold standard compliance across our business.

The risk & ethics directorate (R&E) is responsible for all areas of compliance and risk management for Shoosmiths including developing firmwide policies and procedures to ensure compliance with all legal and regulatory compliance requirements, and to promote best practice. The team is split between the Central Compliance Unit (‘CCU’) who are responsible for onboarding of all clients/matters (including conflicts and AML), Risk Management, and Data Protection.

• Reporting to the Senior Manager Regulatory Compliance and working closely with the firm’s Head of Risk.
• Day to day Management of the firm’s Central Compliance Unit working on development plans for the wider team and instilling a continuous improvement mindset. Considering day-to-day operations to ensure the team operates effectively as the business requires.
• Managing team performance, workload allocation, succession planning and employee development.
• Assisting with the resolution of complex legal/commercial conflicts of interests and confidentiality/disclosure issues and advising the firm on relevant regulatory requirements.
• Acting as an escalation point of higher risk financial crime issues (such as PEPs, sanctions or high-risk jurisdictions).
• Assisting the firm’s MLRO/MLCO and deputies on reviewing complex anti-financial crime escalations (including AML, ABC and sanctions) as well as reputational issues impacting the firm.
• Acting as a gate keeper of reputational risk, considering the firm’s risk appetite, sector focus and ethics guidance for the inception of new clients or new matters.
• Considering short and midterm development plans for the CCU team with operational efficiency and client service at the heart of the teams’ workings.
• Working to continue to embed core processes within the firm in a way that captures all relevant MI information whilst ensuring compliance with the various professional obligations/legislation to which the firm is subject.
• Working with the risk & ethics directorate to implement and maintain firmwide policies and procedures to ensure continued compliance with legal/regulatory obligations and to mitigate key risks
• Take ownership of the training and development framework for the CCU team, including onboarding new joiners, delivering technical and regulatory training, identifying skills gaps, supporting professional development plans and fostering a culture of continuous learning and knowledge sharing across the team.
• Assisting with the ongoing review of the…