Regional Legal Manager (Non Litigation - Bangalore)

ABC - Aditya Birla Housing Finance Limited; Karnataka; On-site; INR 1,200,000 - 1,900,000; Full time

Job summary

ABC - Aditya Birla Housing Finance Limited is seeking a risk-focused professional to mitigate title risk in retail lending, lead legal due diligence, and support timely approvals. The role collaborates with credit, risk, and operations teams to ensure compliant processes and robust risk controls throughout the loan lifecycle.

Responsibilities include monitoring portfolio risk, improving approval notes, and aligning with internal and external stakeholders to ensure sound credit decisions and

Qualifications

• Role focuses on mitigating title risk in retail loan proposals and ensuring legal assessment, approval and recommendation of various loan proposals.
• Guides business/credit/risk teams on referrals, escalations and risk mitigation strategies.
• Develops policies and procedures for legal due diligence through the loan lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Ensure TATs for title opinions, search reports, deferral/escrow management within SLAs.
• Collaborate with credit and pricing committees to close approval after risk validation.
• Monitor portfolio risk, analyze non-recoverability and early warning signals for action.

Skills

Risk assessment

Legal due diligence

Credit risk

Portfolio monitoring

MIS

Stakeholder management

Job description

To build an ecosystem that would assess/ recommend/ decision the viability of credit lending proposals based on institutionalized processes and dynamic market information

Title Risk Mitigation and Approval Responsibilities

• The role needs to mitigate the title risk in retail loan proposals/facilitate the approving authority to take decision on the proposal.
• To be responsible for ensuring the legal assessment, approval and recommendation of all retail/ prime/affordable/CF proposals.
• Reviewing of PDD/ escrow, maintaining MIS and monitoring of exceptions.
• Formulation of product/policy/procedures by interacting with internal/external stakeholders in the field of legal due diligence during the entire life-cycle of loan portfolio.
• Guiding the business/credit/risk team on the referrals/ escalations on a day-to-day basis.
• Providing guidance on the exceptional events, conflict management, strategic decision on the Company’s approach on given situations.
• Preparation/maintenance of legal/collateral acceptance policy & procedures.
• To be responsible for APF legal vetting, CF proposal legal vetting, drafting of covenants specific to transaction/s, upkeeping of Retail legal agreements, procedures & drafts.
• Drafting of Legal documentation and releasing EVs for execution within shortest TAT and driving entire LDD process with external empanelled lawyers.
• To develop formats and norms for approval, ensure their ratification within the team and from approval authorities in the system and institutionalize the prescribed process
• To engage with various business units (credit, operations, collections, sales, Channel partners, DSAs and other distributors) for optimizing the business opportunities and imparting required trainings.
• To suggest measures for ensuring workability of the loan proposals to the RMs, keeping risk in check like suggesting risk mitigation for the identified risks.
• To draft or vet and negotiate, with precision and as per applicable laws, regulations and judgments, contracts , undertakings or documents with vendors, service providers, lenders, co-lenders, other financial institutions and other third parties

Efficient Turnaround Time (TATs) for Validating Proposals

• To ensure TAT within SLAs for panel advocates on title opinion reports, search reports, deferral/escrow account management.
• To effectively deploy processes and mechanisms for ensuring high quality TATs for validating lending proposals & share the same with all concerned
• To liaise with the credit committee and pricing committees for closing the approval process after validation from risk
• To ensure prompt resolution/ explanation of queries raised by sanctioning authorities.
• To recommend delegation authority to zonal, regional and local teams

Product, Process, and Credit Lending Norm Inputs

• To provide inputs and suggest amendments for newer Product Policy, Processes to be adopted keeping the current regulatory and compliance environment
• To ensure that the team stays abreast of all the latest developments in the lending space.
• To undertake improvements in approval notes and other processes to meet dynamic market environment and needs of new customer segments

Portfolio Monitoring and Analytics for Risk Monitoring

• Analysis of non-recoverability of loan due to defective title, possession issue, builder disagreement, TPA issue, sale deed defects, Failure in security creation in takeover accounts, seller BT accounts, gap identification and fixing of responsibility, action/s to be taken etc.
• Continuously take steps to change the strategies according to the portfolio behaviors in terms of sectors/geographies etc.
• To review the covenants of loan proposals at frequent intervals and undertake action for serious deviations.
• To review reports and analytics on repayment schedules, covenant monitoring, modification in terms and loan sanction, etc
• Protect from potential loss on the credit portfolio by detecting early warning signals of deteriorating risks and advising these to the various business units and senior management.
• To work closely with the collection team and legal team to take action against defaulting parties

Stakeholder Engagement

• Collaborating and dealing with various internal & external stakeholders to address their needs in terms of portfolio quality, monitoring and adherence to the regulatory norms.

ECL Management

• Continuously keeping a track of ECL cost and requirements as per the external & internal guidelines.

MIS Construction and Highlighting

• To design MIS templates, monitor their data analysis and accumulation and ensure that key parameters are highlighted to all concerned stakeholders.

Skill Enhancement and Team Building

• To guide teammates for better customer acquisition & provide them best-in-class knowledge on selection norms, new ways of proposal analysis & new concepts
• Inculcating a risk culture across the business group (i.e.) the risk team, credit team, Technical team and the sales team.