Deputy General Counsel CMB UK

HSBC Holdings plc; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 160,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working options

Diversity & inclusion initiatives

Job summary

HSBC is seeking an experienced Deputy General Counsel for CMB UK within the HBUK Legal team. The role will lead a 35-person team, acting as the principal adviser to the CMB CEO and OpCo, while guiding commercial, pragmatic legal support and governance across UK and global business functions.

The role requires strong leadership, regulatory expertise and a proactive, commercially minded partner to senior stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Qualified, experienced lawyer.

Responsibilities

• Provide principal legal advisory to CMB CEO and CMB OpCo.
• Lead and develop a 35 FTE UK Legal team (including 4 direct reports).
• Oversee governance, risk management and external counsel budgeting.
• Drive AI, digital and transformation initiatives for CMB Legal.
• Maintain strong relationships with UK Legal Team and Global Legal networks.

Skills

Leadership

Regulatory experience

AI & digital transformation

Commercial banking knowledge

Stakeholder management

Communication

Job description

Some careers open more doors than others.

Global Legal plays an important role in protecting the Group’s reputation by helping to future-proof the organisation through robust legal risk and issue advisory. Responsible for providing comprehensive legal advice to senior management and all global businesses and functions, the team offers a diverse range of legal skills, jurisdictional experience and practice specialisms across all countries and territories in which our businesses operate.

We are currently seeking an experienced and ambitious individual to join our team as Deputy General Counsel, CMB UK, within the HBUK Legal team.

Role Purpose

The role is to lead a team of approx. 35 FTE (including 4 direct reports), to provide legal support to the HBUK Commercial Banking business (CMB).

In this role you will:

• To be the principal specialist legal adviser to CMB Ceo and the CMB OpCo, providing guidance and support to CMB and the HSBC UK General Counsel, ensuring there is integrated legal support with other global business and function legal teams.
• be a trusted adviser to the CMB CEO and an active member of CMB OpCo, providing commercial, pragmatic legal support and supporting CMB’s strategic objectives;
• provide support to the CMB business with regard to the management and mitigation of legal risks and attend all governance and oversight committees;
• be responsible for all legal support to CMB segments and origination teams, the key product areas of GPS, GTS, Lending, Transaction Management, all digital channels and the Special Credit Unit;
• lead the implementation of AI and other transformation, digital and functional initiatives for CMB Legal;
• be responsible for horizon-scanning across the UK regulatory landscape and work with SME legal teams to manage all litigation, regulatory, financial crime, competition, payments, data privacy and non-customer contractual issues which may affect CMB;
• lead, manage, review, guide, develop and support the lawyers in CMB;
• maintain and develop positive and professional working relationships with all team members within the UK Legal Team, Global Legal Teams and all key stakeholders;
• operate as a senior member of the UK Legal Senior Leadership Team; and
• provide legal services in a cost-effective manner and be responsible for the efficient and prudent management of an external legal budget.

Qualifications

To be successful in this role you should meet the following requirements:

• Qualified, experienced lawyer;
• Strong leadership skills and experience of leading and managing legal teams;
• People management skills and ability to manage a high performing team with a collaborative culture;
• Experience of core commercial banking product sets; Lending, GPS and GTS;
• Experience of the UK regulatory landscape and an interest in regulatory change, an advantage;
• Experience of/ interest in digital strategy, transformation and AI, an advantage;
• Ability to be across a significant number of issues, projects and risks and to prioritise effectively;
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills and the ability to make the complex seem simple;
• Commercially minded, with a strong ability to think laterally and offer solutions to business problems; and
• Experience as an accomplished business partner, comfortable managing senior stakeholders.

The role is classified as a Material Risk Taker role for regulatory purposes.

You’ll achieve more when you join HSBC.

At HSBC we look to enable our employees to better balance their work / life priorities and have the flexibility required to meet challenging needs as they progress through different life stages. Where possible we will consider the following flexible working options: part-time working, job sharing, term-time working, and working from home and staggered hours. If in considering a role with HSBC, you have a need for some flexibility in your working arrangements please discuss this with the recruitment team in the early stages of the application process.

As a business operating in markets all around the world, we believe diversity brings benefits for our customers, our business and our people. This is why HSBC is committed to being an inclusive employer and encourages applications from all suitably qualified applicants irrespective of ethnicity, religion, age, physical or mental disability/long term health condition, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information (including characteristics and testing), military and veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by local law in the jurisdictions in which we operate. Within the work place you will have access to various employee resource groups which aim to promote and achieve a healthy work / life balance and support our diversity ambitions. HSBC has in place processes in order to avoid nepotism, which means to avoid creating circumstances in which the appearance or possibility of conflicts of interest may exist within the hiring process.

We want everyone to be able to fulfil their potential which is why we provide a range of flexible working arrangements and family friendly policies.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation