General Counsel

ANV Insurance; Greater London; On-site; GBP 160,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

ANV Insurance is seeking a General Counsel to lead the European legal and company secretarial functions for the international organization. Reporting to the CLO, you will head an initial team of three and expand, while overseeing compliance for ANV’s European businesses.

You will manage legal risks, provide pragmatic guidance across legal, compliance, governance and regulatory domains, and coordinate with regulators including the FCA.

Qualifications

• Tertiary level education is required.
• Qualified lawyer status is required for this role.

Responsibilities

• Lead the International Legal function with commercial pragmatism and oversight.
• Provide pragmatic advice on legal, compliance, governance and regulatory matters.
• Oversee regulatory initiatives (IDD, GDPR, SMCR, etc.) and corporate matters.
• Manage external legal providers and supervise Company Secretarial and Compliance functions.
• Collaborate with senior leadership and regulators (e.g., FCA) and support M&A activity in Europe.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Strategic thinking

Regulatory knowledge

Negotiation

Education

Tertiary level education

Qualified lawyer

Job description

ANV is a global specialty insurance platform operating across the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe. Backed by AmTrust Financial Services and Blackstone Credit & Insurance, we bring together a portfolio of established MGAs and specialist underwriting businesses delivering innovative insurance solutions across multiple markets.

As a rapidly growing platform, ANV combines the strength of established insurance businesses with the opportunity and energy of a scaling organization. We are committed to underwriting excellence, entrepreneurial thinking, and empowering our people to make a meaningful impact as we continue to build the next generation of specialty insurance businesses.

Position Overview

Responsible for leading the European legal and company secretarial functions for the international organisation. This individual will report to the CLO of ANV and lead an initial team of 3, expected to expand. Alongside group leadership of the legal function (incorporating Company Secretarial) this role will also have local oversight for Compliance ANV’s European businesses.

Essential Job Functions

General Counsel

• Lead the International Legal function with commercial pragmatism and ensure sufficient oversight as it pertains to the provision of legal advice and counsel to ANV to drive good decision-making and anticipate as well as respond to business issues.
• Ensure that the provision of legal services to the business is in line with agreed SLAs.
• Partners with the senior leadership team as it pertains to business strategy, including organisational change and key business initiatives.
• Collaborate across the organisation by participating and supporting ANV’s global legal and regulatory initiatives and activities as appropriate.

Legal & Regulatory

• Manage legal risks via monitoring legislative changes and the regulatory environment and partner in devising appropriate solutions.
• Provide pragmatic advice and guidance on a range of matters, including legal, compliance, governance, regulation, operational and company secretarial.
• Ensure the effective management of litigation and dispute resolution.
• Manage negotiation of commercial and other agreements with third parties.
• Ensure new business relationships are analysed and the effective preparation of documents to reflect the commercial agreements
• Support corporate legal mergers and acquisitions team in respect of European acquisitions
• Work closely with other senior leaders within the business to develop and maintain an effective working relationship with key constituents within governmental entities, including the FCA
• Oversee the provision of key European regulatory (IDD, GDPR, SMCR, IAF etc.) and corporate (Part VII’s, entity restructuring etc.) initiatives as and when they arise
• Ensure legal and regulatory compliance for business development activity, including new products
• Manage external legal providers.
• Working closely with other Group functions, including Underwriting, Compliance, Risk and HR to deliver ANV’s key strategic priorities.

Other

• Comply with ANV procedures, policies and regulations as relevant to remit.
• Complete all mandatory and job specific training requirements in line with the required time frames and ensure the same for direct reports.
• Complete the required number of hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) as it pertains to remit and applicable qualifications and ensure this is logged in Workday. Ensure the same for direct reports.
• Complete the annual performance review process for all direct reports, to include completing a thorough assessment as it relates to performance against delivery in post, the core competency framework and conduct standards as applicable. Ensure appropriate goals are set, learning and development plans completed and that any performance or behaviour not meeting expectations is managed promptly and appropriately.
• Fully participate in all applicable fitness and probity and performance review processes.Promptly advise line manager/HR as to any matter that may be relevant and/or impacts your ability to perform in role.
• Other duties may be assigned in order to meet the on-going needs of the organisation.

Qualifications, Experience, Competence

Qualifications

• Tertiary level education
• Qualified lawyer

Experience

• Strong legal experience in General Insurance, financial services and corporate law with experience incorporating negotiation of commercial, especially insurance agreements, outsourcing and procurement arrangements, the implementation and/or compliance with the applicable regulatory frameworks.
• Will have significant in experience in managing a legal function within the financial services/insurance sector. Experience will have included responsibility/oversight for Company Secretarial and Compliance functions.
• Managing external lawyers especially in relation to commercial matters.
• Experience in dealing with regulators and industry bodies.

Functional/Technical Competencies

• Effectively builds and maintains relationships at c-suite level; is able to interact, support, challenge and influence senior stakeholders at all levels internally and externally.
• Strategic thinker with strong execution discipline.
• Expansive knowledge of applicable UK and European (to include Spain and Italy) laws and regulations.
• Able to effectively lead/champion change initiatives associated with regulatory/legal requirements.