Head, Legal & Governance

Job Purpose

To define the inCountry Legal strategy and scope its implementation by identifying ways to promote Legals mandate in small/medium countries (refer to the Country Tiering Model). To provide specialised insights that inform the rendering of legal advice to stakeholders on ambiguous matters. To safeguard integrity in terms of legal reputational and other risk. To lead the legal entity/s Corporate Governance Strategy & Company Secretarial Function within a Country on all governance advisory matters to ensure compliance in relation to best practices on all legislative and regulatory matters.

Duties & Responsibilities

Adhere to SBG data security standards ensuring compliance with local data regulations.

Adhere to and enhance and/or add to SBG minimum standards for vendor selection and select the most appropriate vendor with the required expertise to guarantee quality work output.

Assume full accountability and decision making for Legal for the designated Country or Product Area.

Consult with stakeholders to understand business requirements and provide expert insight and guidance pertaining to the drafting vetting review dissemination and/or negotiation of legal documentation and processes of a highly complex and ambiguous nature and provide clear and accurate legal opinions based on sound judgment.

Contribute specialised legal expertise in all legal aspects of transactions; spanning the most complex products across business areas including cross border transactions to inform Top Management decision making in country.

Contribute to the development of Group legal risk management policies as applied in country.

Develop and manage relationships with key external stakeholders relevant to the business and external regulatory bodies so that pertinent business networks and connections may be relied upon.

Drive and leverage Group technology and platform efficiencies and actively build competitive advantage through innovation and invention with regards to the systems and infrastructure employed by the area of specialisation.

Drive the alignment of Legal decisions to those taken at a SBG level so that consistencies may be leveraged and SBG Legal standards may be applied.

Enable licenses to operate following up to ensure that they are obtained and maintained in respect of the legal function in that particular country.

Identify long term plans to promote Legals mandate in country and to ensure its alignment to the functional and wider organisational and Group strategy.

Identify primary and secondary stakeholders critical to the success of incountry legal operations so that engagement plans may be customised accordingly. Strategically source and manage competent external attorneys and counsel where appropriate so that the demands of the business are catered for.

Identify investigate and resolve all legal risk including reputational risk potentially outside of precedent to provide timely solutions that strategically eliminate or mitigate risks. Attend and participate in appropriate governance committees to ensure that any legal requirements are appropriately considered and legal risks are addressed.

Lead specialist product and/or sector legal teams within the context of where applicable a bilingual communication environment ensuring sound application of relevant local and international legal principles.

Lead the legal team in country according to SBGs leadership principles and values including employee lifecycle from recruitment through to exit performance management training and development discipline and grievance management retention and reward and people administration to ensure a high performance culture.

Lead the legal team in country using deep specialist knowledge insights and technical guidance delivering helpful mentorship and enhancing team capabilities.

Maintain overall accountability for the management and resolution of all litigation and disputes involving the Country.

Optimise processes procedures and systems through benchmarking to local and international best practices reviews and evaluation. Implement improvements for the team within the area of expertise on an ongoing basis.

Partner with General Counsel and Head Legal Africa Region to facilitate the formulation and implementation of the Country Legal Strategy as defined by embedding and implementing it within Group Legal.

Partner with Human Capital in motivating for architectural decisions that address job grades roles and skills within the Legal function in country.

Prepare legal documents in a professional format and in compliance with SBG data standards whilst ensuring that agreed turnaround times are being complied with.

Provide expert technical legal advice to Top Management Legal Teams within the Country external legal representatives industry bodies Country Specific Regulators and Government using advanced knowledge of country specific expertise.

Provide information on potential litigious matters to be instituted against client(s) or to be defended for all matters within delegation of authority or material matrix reporting requirements.

Provide insight into the drafting and updating of policies ensuring that the legal ways of work pertaining to the specific business unit are wellinformed.

Provide insight motivations and where applicable client responses pertaining to Top Managements decisions regarding client interactions.

Provide legal advice to the implementation of initiatives in country including processes systems and projects (factoring in advancements in legal technology) relating to compliance of high impact policies to set standards.

Provide Legal expertise to develop the relevant technology requirements in order to drive the optimisation of work output this may include communication methods in remote working environments.

Provide legal oversight in relation to strategic business transactions and serve on appropriate governance forums for the approval of transactions.

Provide overall leadership and accountability for the particular country insofar as budget pertaining to legal spend and maintain oversight of prudent business spend on potential settlement of matters and the briefing of external legal representatives.

Provide specialised legal advice to key stakeholders on high value transactions ensuring legal risk is at appropriate levels.

Provide Top Management with legal advice on all legal matter and risks in country.

Report on legal risk management in country subject to materiality threshold.

Schedule board board committee and management committee meetings agree agendas with chairperson Chief Executive and collate and distribute board board committee and management committee papers. Attend board board committee and management committee meetings. Produce accurate and succinct minutes of all meetings attended within the agreed service levels.

Build and maintain effective relationships with the relevant regulators and stakeholders on all areas of responsibility. Lead engagements with external regulators and advisers such as lawyers and auditors to resolve any complex Corporate Governance issues. Prepare and present formal responses on behalf of the Standard Bank Group to requests from local and Regulators and Supervisors within a specific Country. Assume responsibility for correspondence collating information and writing reports to ensure decisions made are communicated to the relevant company stakeholders.

Monitor and maintain statutory books including registers of members directors and secretaries to ensure compliance to regulatory requirements. Certify and lodge its Annual Report with the Registrar of Companies together with all returns as are required of a public company in terms of the relevant legislation and that all such returns are true correct and up to date. On a regular basis but at least once every two year review all company Memorandum and Articles of Association and submit approved changes to the AGM / EGM for adoption.

Complete consolidate and submit all required reports to the relevant committees and regulatory authorities when required and mandated. Consult to the relevant CoEs and provide advice during the development and updating of policies procedures and training material to ensure alignment to the specific needs of the Business Function.

Define and maintain the data model for the embedded Corporate Governance function within a specific Country in adherence to the Groups data security standards.

Drive and complete high quality reporting as required and mandated to ensure assurance consistent feedback and necessary escalation of Corporate Governance issues and overall compliance performance to the relevant boards and executive committees.

Drive and implement the People plan with support from the People & Culture Function. Identify current and potential employee skill requirements in consultation with the People & Culture Function. Lead the Corporate Governance Function according to the lean leadership and employee engagement principles including employee lifecycle from recruitment through to exit performance management training and development discipline and grievance management retention and reward and people administration to ensure a high performance culture.

Establish the technological requirements of the embedded Corporate Governance function to ensure the required systems adequately support the operational needs of the embedded Governance team within a Country.

Informs embedded Corporate Governance and Compliance teams where applicable Business Function executive members and other relevant stakeholders about regulatory inspections and acts a conduit for any significant information requests comments and findings. Advise the embedded  Executive Committee on the regulatory universe and all relevant Corporate Governance frameworks standards and procedures to ensure the legal entities  strategic and operational plans drive business activity and operations that meet regulatory and legislative requirements

Keep abreast of and analyse regulatory and legislative developments applicable to the Business Segments  within a specific Country and jurisdictions in which it operates in order to deliver expert advice to the Countrys Executive Committee. Provide input or comment in relation to the drafting of proposed regulatory requirements.

Lead and drive the participation in effective governance structures in order to meet the requirements imposed by governmental bodies industry mandates or internal policies. Lead the engagements with the Chairperson and the Chief Executive for a Country to develop the annual board plan and the administration of other issues of a strategic nature at board level.

Lead the Embedded Company Secretary Function within a Country through the development and execution of a Functional Governance Plan and the effective implementation of all Governance frameworks policies and standards to ensure all aspects of compliance risks are managed and regulatory requirements are met across Client Segments and Client Solutions operations within a Country.

Participate and represent the business at the relevant BU Committees in order to gain full understanding of business activities and provide the required critical advise where required Maintain an indepth understanding of the entire Business Function and all its activities by consistently engaging with executive committee members in order to effectively lead the implementation of the Corporate Governance plan within a Country.

Monitor and control board and committee procedures to ensure they comply with the terms of their mandate. Monitor and control to ensure board and all board committees function in terms of their mandates which are to be reviewed and adopted on an annual basis. Monitor and control cost management and adherence to ensure sound financial practices and control costs within budget.

Monitor and control the completion of selfassessments by the board and individual board members on an annual basis and that the results are summarised for discussion by the board of directors and that the findings and recommendations are subsequently forwarded to the Group Governance Office.

Monitor changes in directors fees annually and provide a report and recommendations supported by a survey of fees payable by local financial institutions to the Board Remunerations Committee as well as Group Governance Office team. Set the budget for the embedded Corporate Governance function within a Country and monitor and control of the expenditure relative to the budget. Significantly contribute to the development and the provision of the data sets for the functional area.

Monitor the overall implementation of the Subsidiary Governance Framework and adherence to the required  standards and procedures across all areas of the Business Function to ensure consistent and efficient execution. Review Corporate Governance frameworks standards and procedures in the context of the entire Business Function and its jurisdiction and advise on their customisation or amendment where necessary.

Provide  governance advisory to new  Directors as part of a formal induction programme to enhance their understanding of Business Operations and related legislation/regulation. Guide them in the resolution of more complex Corporate Governance matters in a manner that enables sufficient transfer of knowledge.

Provide a central source of guidance and advice to the board on matters of ethics and good governance by inter alia providing topical articles to the board.

Provide advice to management relevant committees the embedded business risk management function and employees on the resolution of audit or review findings in order to effectively manage complex Corporate Governance issues. Provide guidance and specialist advice to the chairperson the Chief Executive within a Country and the specific committees on discharging their duties and responsibilities in order to adopt the highest standards of Corporate Governance.

Qualifications :

Type of Qualification: Post Graduate Degree Qualified Attorney or Barrister to practice law in Mauritius
Field of Study: Legal

Experience Required
Macro Generic
Legal
More than 10 years

Proven experience in providing expert insight & guidance in the management of legal risk and the drafting vetting review dissemination and/or negotiation of legal documents and processes of a highly complex & ambiguous nature. Development of legal strategy and leadership of a legal team/function. Identification and mitigation of legal risks. At least 5 years exp within legal/financial sector at legal manager level with at least 3 years exp in wholesale/corporate transactions.

Demonstrated ability to embed Legal and Risk Management processes as required by relevant regulatory requirements applicable codes of conduct and the minimum role requires a seasoned individual with a minimum of 10 years postgraduation experience within the Financial Services Industry with at least 5 years senior management level. Ability to provide guidance to senior and executive leaders and board members on provisions of the law and other regulations. Ability to understand business operations and opportunities within the law.

Additional Information :

Behavioural Competencies:

• Articulating Information
• Convincing People
• Developing Strategies
• Directing People
• Documenting Facts
• Establishing Rapport
• Interacting with People
• Making Decisions
• Providing Insights
• Resolving Conflict
• Seizing Opportunities
• Showing Composure

Technical Competencies:

• Corporate Legal Services Management
• Dispute Resolution
• Financial Industry Regulatory Framework
• Legal Advisory & Interpretation
• Legal Compliance
• Legal Drafting
• Legal Knowledge
• Legal Research

Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Fulltime