Senior Manager, Operations | Singapore, SG

To plan, organize and control the operational resources of the branch on a day-to-day basis to ensure all operational activities are executed in a manner that delivers a quality customer service experience whilst ensuring the efficient and effective use of resources and minimizing operational risk to the bank.

The job holder will take on some middle office responsibilities, including client transaction services, to support and serve customers. This will involve visiting clients, monitoring facility utilization, and identifying opportunities to enhance service delivery and client satisfaction. Additionally, the role will serve as a critical link between the Relationship Manager (RM), clients, and the head office, ensuring continuous communication and coordination across all parties.

This role demands strong leadership skills, strategic thinking, and comprehensive operational expertise to support the branch in ensuring various local regulatory policies relating to MAS and Group BCM are embedded into the bank’s operational flow and communicate and work closely with Group Office to implement and support these changes while monitoring the various SLAs in place with outsource parties.

Principal Responsibilities, Accountabilities and Deliverables of Role:

The job holder will:

• Support the pre & post processing for Trade Finance, Bilateral and Syndicated Term Loans, Money Market Deposits, Remittances and other products offered by Bank ABC.
• Meet clients together with the RMs when required to provide operational specific advice and solutions to drive facility utilization.
• Primary responsible party to update and manage the branch’s Business Continuity Management framework.
• Review all Operational policies and procedures relevant to ABCSG as and when needed (min. once every three years) to ensure that best practice and consistency exists to enable the accomplishment of business goals and within agreed SLA.
• Main contact for external and internal audits for matters relating to Operations Team.
• Develop and deploy operational best practices using recognized industry concepts e.g. Lean / Six Sigma as well as Trade Finance industry knowledge to increase process efficiency whilst minimizing operational risks.
• Creation of a high performing team capable of supporting the strategic plans of ABCSG.
• Implementation of Key Performance metrics to drive a consistent, rigorous and ongoing assessment of the team’s operational performance.
• Manage the branch’s outsourced activity to ensure operational resilience and regulatory requirements relating to MAS and Group BCM are met.
• Delivery of strategic change initiatives across ABCSG in accordance with the priorities agreed by the ABC Group.
• Ensure effective communication and dissemination of appropriate information to all staff and stakeholders.
• Manage the transition of change within the business.
• Communicate with Head Office (Head of Wholesale Banking & Islamic) to keep him/her up to date with progress, issues and developments, providing appropriate briefing.

The job holder will play a key role in ensuring the delivery of organizational change and process improvements to simplify existing activities and ultimately deliver scalable operational solutions that can be consistently implemented across the Group as required.

The job holder is expected to have a strong and broad knowledge of Trade Finance and Loans Products and associated operational best practices and experience of working as part of a team that develops and delivers transformational change initiatives.

The job holder is expected to work independently, to be familiar with local market practices when reviewing and adopting policies and procedures relevant to ABC SG.

Key Accountabilities

• To build a high performing Operations team supported by robust succession plans.
• Ensure that all work processed by the Operations team adheres to all specified Bank processes, procedures, standards and relevant external requirements.
• Contribute to the development of a Target Operating Model for Group Trade Finance activities.
• Develop and implement tools and techniques to identify changes that may be required to processes, procedures and or practices in order to support the strategic objectives of Group.
• Build and deploy standard business Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to ensure that there is high quality Management Information available on all products with particular attention to Staff Productivity, Errors, Discrepancies and Service Level adherence.

Key Activities

• Managing, motivating, coaching and developing team members so that individual and collective performance meets the standards required.
• Leading the appraisal process within the team, collecting and keeping appropriate data.
• Ensuring effective communication and dissemination of appropriate information to all staff.
• Recommending and implementing changes to the way in which the team operates in order to improve service quality and process efficiency.
• Maintaining up-to-date awareness of market conditions and developments to ensure that best practice is adopted where required.
• Managing relationships with key stakeholders in Front Office, Risk, Compliance, HR, Finance and Head Office.
• Assessing management information reports, identifying risks and issues and briefing senior managers on major implications for change projects.
• Identifying and assessing trends in issues and workflow, investigating further when appropriate and implementing changes or coordinating support from other parties to resolve matters and minimize the risk of re-occurrence.
• Managing and delivering change initiatives.
• Working with team leaders to embed changes within the Operations team and branch.

Job Requirements:

Knowledge

• Deep technical knowledge and experience of Trade Finance products.
• Strong knowledge and understanding of Commercial Banking products and their processing.
• Strong knowledge and understanding of Treasury products and their processing.
• Solid understanding of the commercial nature and risks associated with Trade Finance related services and products.
• Where appropriate will have a detailed knowledge of the regulatory practices relating to MAS and Group BCM which may impact the work of the department and an understanding of the likely impact of forthcoming change.

Education/Certification

• Degree level qualification in banking, finance, accountancy or business administration.

Experience

• At least 10 to 15 years working experience in Operations (Trade Finance is a must). At least have been in a leadership position for 5 years and responsible for team development and strategic change initiatives.

Personal Attributes

• Articulate and easy to understand with strong interpersonal skills. Checks others’ understanding in response to enquiries / situations.
• Fluent English (spoken and written).
• Produces clear and concise reports and other written material which are understandable to those with or without knowledge of the subject.
• Full understanding of relevant computer applications and can effectively input, extract and format data.
• Ability to work under pressure, with strong time management skills and proven track record in planning, managing and prioritizing own and teams’ work.
• Excellent analytical skills with ability to learn new systems and identify and define problems and solutions.