Senior Legal Counsel

Absa Group; Sandton; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 800,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial institution is seeking a Legal Advisor to provide transactional support to its Structured Trade & Commodity Finance business. This role involves managing legal risks, drafting agreements, and advising stakeholders while ensuring compliance with regulations. The ideal candidate will have 5-7 years of experience in banking law, strong legal drafting skills, and the ability to navigate complex financial transactions.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5-7 years PQE in banking and finance with STCF experience.
• Admitted attorney or advocate in RSA or similar jurisdiction.
• Strong understanding of structured trade and commodity finance.

Responsibilities

• Provide end-to-end transactional legal support to the STCF business.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate legal risks across transactions.
• Negotiate, draft, and review various financial agreements.

Skills

Legal risk management

Drafting agreements

Stakeholder management

Regulatory compliance

Education

Bachelor Honours Degree: Law

Job description

Job Summary

Provide end-to-end transactional legal support to the Structured Trade & Commodity Finance (STCF) business on a Pan African basis across Absa’s Regional Operations (ARO). The role serves as a day-to-day point of contact for deal teams, proactively managing legal risk, enabling commercial outcomes, and ensuring robust documentation, governance and conduct controls in line with Absa policies and applicable law. The role requires the ability to engage and advise on legal structures and transactions across a variety of sectors including Agri, Natural Resources and Mining and Oil. Drafting, negotiating and settling legal agreements is a key aspect of the role.

Job Description

Accountability: Management of Legal Risks

• Identify, assess and mitigate legal risks across the transaction lifecycle; ensure appropriate approvals/dispensations are obtained and recorded.
• Proactively monitor regulatory and case-law developments affecting STCF, trade-based money-laundering risk, sanctions and exchange control; translate changes into practical guidance for deal teams.

Accountability: Advisory and opinions

• Ensure technical correctness of documents drafted by ensuring that the latest legal precedents have been included in the documents.
• To provide concise, accurate, timely legal advice to internal stakeholders.
• To provide legally sound solutions to business challenges.
• Have a good understanding of the financial and banking environment to be able to ensure that financial and business requirements are correctly incorporated in the documents.
• Ensure that all risks are sufficiently addressed in agreements entered by the bank; understanding the requirements of business, legal issues and possible business risks and incorporating clauses in the agreements to address such risks and requirements.

Accountability: Negotiate, draft and review Agreements.

• Consider, comment, draft, vet, negotiate and give advice on documents / agreements for the business including but not limited to term sheets, mandate letters, expressions of interest and letters of support, facility agreements (bilateral and syndicated), security and intercreditor documentation, collateral management and storage agreements, Milldoor, SAFEX and Warfin agreements, receivables and inventory finance documents, guarantees and indemnities, escrow arrangements, and related ancillary documents, Risk Participation Agreements.
• Ensure structures and documentation align to Absa’s Trade Finance Standards (including due-diligence requirements for third parties such as collateral managers, storage providers and off-takers) and applicable LMA/ICC market practice.
• Coordinate with Coverage, Product, Credit, Transaction Administration and Operations to ensure conditions precedent and subsequent are practical, complete and trackable; support fit-to-lend and post-execution governance.

Accountability: Stakeholder Management

• Act as trusted advisor to STCF front office team; provide concise, commercial and timely advice to enable decisions and manage escalations.
• Lead negotiations with counterparties and external counsel; manage panel firms efficiently (scoping, budgeting, instructions, and quality control).
• Contribute to cross-CIB Legal initiatives (playbooks, templates, training, digitisation) and mentor junior lawyers where applicable.
• Provide training that is beneficial / informative to internal clients by way of presentations, such as training on new legislation or recent legal precedents.
• Manage external counsel where instructed on specific work. Represent the Bank on relevant industry forums and professional bodies where required. Attend external meetings with internal stakeholders, such as meetings with suppliers of the bank or attorneys of such bank suppliers

Accountability: Continuous improvement & knowledge management

• Own and refresh STCF legal templates and clause libraries; maintain playbooks with fallback positions and negotiation guidance.
• Deliver targeted training to business and support functions on STCF topics (e.g., collateral risk, warehouse receipts, escrow vs LC, sanctions red flags).

Accountability: Technical Competencies & Knowledge

• Advanced knowledge of structured trade and commodity finance structures (borrowing bases, inventory/warehouse financing, receivables financing, tolling arrangements) and related security packages.
• Strong command of LMA-style loan documentation, intercreditor and security sharing arrangements; familiarity with ICC rules relevant to trade documentation.
• Working knowledge of Absa Trade Finance Standards (incl. due diligence on third parties), Financial Crime risk management, sanctions and AML requirements applicable to trade.

Professional/technical experience

• Minimum 5-7 years PQE in banking and finance with demonstrable STCF experience (in-house and/or top-tier firm preferred)
• Ability to advise at a senior business level and establish credibility very quickly.
• An understanding of the banking business and product offerings.

Academic and professional qualifications

• Law degrees: B Juris, B Proc or LLB
• Admitted attorney or advocate in RSA or other similar jurisdiction
• Lawyer / attorney qualified to practice in South Africa or other similar jurisdiction

Education

Bachelor Honours Degree: Law, Military Science and Security (Required)

Absa Bank Limited is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. In compliance with the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, preference will be given to suitable candidates from designated groups whose appointments will contribute towards achievement of equitable demographic representation of our workforce profile and add to the diversity of the Bank.

Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as advertised