Executive Director, Team Lead Sustainability, Institutional Banking Group

DBS Bank Limited; Singapore; On-site; SGD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading banking institution in Singapore is seeking a Sustainability Team Lead to oversee sustainable finance initiatives. The ideal candidate will have over 15 years of banking experience, strong leadership skills, and a background in corporate & investment banking. You will be responsible for guiding the team in addressing ESG risks, enhancing client engagements, and fostering a constructive work culture. Competitive compensation and opportunities for professional development are provided.

Qualifications

• Overall experience of 15 years in banking (energy/project/sustainable financing).
• At least 10 years of proven leadership track record in client-facing roles.
• Background in Corporate & Investment Banking.
• Strong business acumen and drive to build client trust.
• Experience in financial institutions with environmental due diligence.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic approach to sustainable finance for hard-to-abate sectors.
• Assess ESG risks before client engagement and deal execution.
• Manage team progress and nurture a constructive culture.
• Ensure discipline in portfolio management and contribute to strategic projects.

Skills

Leadership

Client Engagement

ESG Risk Assessment

Strategic Thinking

Communication Skills

Sustainable Financing

Job description

DBS Institutional Banking Group (IBG) provides corporate customers with a full range of commercial banking products and services, including trade finance, working capital finance, term loans and capital markets fundraising. Through our continued commitment, DBS has cultivated long-standing relationships with its customers in the region. Well-connected in Asia, IBG serves multinational, large and small to medium sized customers to grow their business.

DBS has also become a signatory of Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) since October 2021 and has established glide paths for some of the key ‘hard to abate’ sectors. We look to partner with our customers to make the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Approach Towards Sustainable Finance

• As a team lead within IBG Sustainability, the role requires \:
  • to have a well balanced approach between ESG risk and opportunities across hard to abate sectors and clients within the sector
  • to have a systematic and well curated client engagement via prioritization (eg. strategic clients ; top financed emissions, industry champions)
  • to provide direction to the team on how to strategically embed ESG advisory in form of concrete ideas in client discussions in context of business profile, medium to longer term client plans
  • to link client’s strategy to ESG priorities, decarbonization journey and targets as well as positioning vis-à-vis stakeholders
  • to have a client centric approach and prepare relevant thought process to facilitate meaningful discussions with C-suite including CFO/Treasurers which remain key decision makers
  • to constantly strive to improve DBS positioning on ESG with clients as well as investors – including Greenwich Survey

2. Robust ESG Risk Lens

• Given the hard to abate sectors such as Power & Utilities, Oil & Gas, Metals & Mining, Chemicals, Shipping, Aviation require a strong reputational risk mindset, the role requires
  • to have a good understanding of environmental risks that need to be considered prior to client engagement as well as deal origination and execution
  • to be able to showcase clear thought process and articulate both dos and don’ts factoring potential ESG risks whilst considering financing of a particular industry or a client or a project or an asset
  • to be able to guide the team on ESG Risk Assessment performed on clients and directly oversee High and Very High Risk classified clients
  • to be on top of “watchlist” names in terms of existing issues faced by those specific clients, maintain a periodic update on mitigation actions & progress by them, remain aligned with stakeholders (Industry/CSO/GSMC) on Bank’s stance and approach towards the situation
  • to be able to contribute key facts and narrative to GSMC and CSO teams in context of challenging names (which could be mainly from watchlist) that require framing of responses to NGO letters / negative media

3. Team Management & Nurturing a Constructive Culture

• As a team lead
  • Encouraging sense of responsiveness towards both internal and external clients
  • Tracking progress and KPIs and providing continuous guidance to deliver better
  • Continuously upskilling the team members and provide necessary exposure to juniors enable them to evolve in career
  • Identifying and nurturing key talents

4. Portfolio Discipline & Transversal Strategic Projects

• As a team lead and senior IBGS team member
  • Ensure and encourage discipline on portfolio management (deal pipeline, engagement statistics, scorecard tracking)
  • Contribute towards strategic projects, presentations, business reviews and Senior Management requirements

Requirements

• Overall experience of 15 years in banking (energy/project/sustainable financing)
• At least 10 years of proven leadership track record and expertise in corporate client-facing role including sustainable finance and solutions
• Background in Corporate & Investment Banking via Coverage or Product Solutioning
• Strong exposure to ‘hard to abate’ sectors and relevant clients
• Strong business acumen and drive to ideate, originate, build client trust
• Proven ability and track record to coordinate, lead and execute financing solutions across multiple teams at a large corporate level
• Experience working in financial institutions and/or having in-depth environmental and social due diligence experience
• Possess professional and interpersonal skills to establish good rapport and working relationship with internal and external stakeholders.
• Team management leadership and skills