Associate Director, Business Risk, Wealth Management

CLSA; Hong Kong; On-site; HKD 900,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

CLSA's Wealth Management COO Office is seeking a business risk professional to monitor and control risks across WM products, including OTC derivatives like Bond TRS, by managing margining and collateral processes and coordinating with risk, legal, and operations teams.

The role supports risk reviews, incident handling, and embeds risk considerations in workflows, contributing to cross-functional WM COO Office projects and initiatives.

Qualifications

• Degree holder with CPA/CFA; 8+ years in collateral management or risk.
• Solid knowledge of ISDA CSA, GMRA and UMR.
• Experience with OTC products (futures, options, swaps, TRS).
• Strong analytical ability to reconcile portfolios and monitor risk.

Responsibilities

• Perform daily margining under ISDA CSA/GMRA; manage margin calls and collateral movements per UMR.
• Conduct portfolio reconciliations; resolve disputes with counterparties.
• Monitor mark-to-market, P&L, exposures; escalate material risk to second-line risk teams.
• Understand Prime Brokerage margining and model calibration for linear/non-linear products.
• Prepare credit files, review credit limits, monitor credit quality.
• Lead collateral system enhancements; participate in UAT and onboarding in collateral systems.
• Attend risk incidents, business continuity planning, and cross-functional initiatives.

Skills

Tri-lingual communication

Risk analysis

Counterparty risk monitoring

Education

CPA/CFA qualification

Tools

Collateral management systems

Job description

This is a business risk-focused role within our Wealth Management "WM" COO office team. This position is responsible for proactive monitoring and control of business and operational risks across relevant WM products, including OTC derivatives such as Bond TRS, by managing margining and collateral processes, supporting operational risk reviews and prevention exercises, and coordinating with internal departments, risk teams, and external parties on risk incident handling and regulatory requirements. The role also provides operational input to WM COO Office projects and initiatives, ensuring risk considerations are embedded in business workflows and supporting cross functional execution.

Key Areas of Responsibilities

• Perform daily margining processes under ISDA CSA and GMRA agreements, issue/respond to margin calls, manage cash and security collateral movements in compliance with Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR), and ensure accuracy and timeliness in exposure management.
• Conduct regular portfolio reconciliations, investigate discrepancies, resolve disputes with counterparties, and coordinate with Business Units, Middle Office, Legal, and Risk Management to address operational or documentation issues.
• Collaborate with Group Risk, Market Risk and Credit Risk teams to monitor mark-to-market valuations, P&L changes, counterparty exposures, limit utilisation, early warning indicators, and unusual exposure movements; elevate material risk areas promptly to second-line risk teams.
• Understand Prime Brokerage model of rule-based margining, portfolio stress testing, model calibration/validation for linear and non-linear products, and OTC product types including futures, vanilla options, covered calls, stock TRS, bond TRS, swaps, and forwards.
• Prepare credit files and write-ups, review credit limit applications, make recommendations for approvals, prepare daily credit reports, monitor exposures, resolve exceptions, and monitor adverse news impacting counterparty/product credit quality.
• Initiate collateral management system enhancements, raise business requirements, participate in UAT, support project rollout, and perform onboarding in collateral systems after agreements are executed.
• Participate in risk-related incidents, business continuity planning, call trees, operational risk reviews, transaction/post-trade monitoring, and thematic reviews to ensure risk mitigation measures are effectively implemented.
• Undertake ad hoc project assignments from the WM COO Office, supporting cross-functional initiatives unrelated to collateral management to contribute to overall business priorities.

Requirements

• Degree holder in related discipline with CPA/CFA qualification; minimum 8 years’ relevant experience in collateral management, credit risk, or market risk within a financial services environment.
• Solid understanding of ISDA CSA, GMRA agreements, Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR), Prime Brokerage operations, and a broad range of OTC products such as futures, options, swaps, and total return swaps (TRS).
• Proven ability to monitor and analyse counterparty risk, exposure limits, mark-to-market valuations, and P&L movements, with experience in preparing credit files, reviewing credit limit applications, and identifying early warning indicators.
• Strong analytical ability to reconcile portfolios, resolve disputes, investigate discrepancies, and make well-reasoned recommendations.
• Experienced in collateral management systems, onboarding processes, and participating in UAT with knowledge of risk management tools.
• Excellent interpersonal and tri-lingual communication skills is a must, with the ability to collaborate effectively across Market Risk, Credit Risk, Legal, Middle Office, and external counterparties.
• Understanding of operational risk controls, governance frameworks, and business continuity practices, with the ability to execute risk mitigation measures effectively.
• Self-motivated and able to manage multiple priorities; comfortable participating in cross-functional projects and delivering results in a fast-paced environment.