Role Title: Regulatory Lawyer, Europe & America, WIB Legal (12 Month Fixed Term)
Role location: London
About Westpac : We are Australia’s first bank and oldest company, and one of four major banking organisations in Australia. This opportunity sits in our London office working for Westpac Institutional Bank (WIB), the division of Westpac, which services the needs of our corporate, institutional, and governmental clients.
How will I help?
The Europe & America (E&A) Legal team is a collegiate corporate legal team providing high quality advice to support the international aspirations of WIB. Through partnership with key internal and external stakeholders, this role will support the Westpac Group’s international legal and risk strategy by influencing, negotiating and consulting. Our legal advice is accurate, timely, cost effective and commercial.
You will provide regulatory legal advice and support to WIB’s institutional business in Europe & Americas. These businesses provide finance solutions for Westpac’s institutional and corporate clients operating outside of Australia, predominantly in the UK, Europe and America via the Financial Markets (FM) and Corporate & Institutional Bank (CIB) lines of business (LOBs).
- Provide high-quality legal advice on existing and future UK and EU financial regulatory issues, including FCA and PRA rules, compliance requirements, market conduct, market abuse and financial market infrastructure spanning a broad remit of regulation such as MAR, EMIR, MIFID, CSDR, SFTR and operational resilience/outsourcing for example.
- Provide legal counsel to the FM and CIB LOBs, participate in new product proposals and strategic initiatives, provide subject matter expertise and interpretations of relevant laws, rules, regulations and industry practices, and advise business management on legal matters impacting the business.
- Lead on discrete UK and EU regulatory projects from time to time, for example, to ensure that the bank’s policies and procedures in a particular area are appropriate and effective or take responsibility for developing the bank’s response to a particular issue.
- Proactively identify, evaluate and contribute to the appropriate management of legal, regulatory and reputational risk by collaborating with second line compliance and the first line business controls team, follow relevant legal developments, participate in internal projects and escalate as appropriate.
- Ensure external legal resources are properly and efficiently selected and used, and ensure output produced by external counsel complies with our policies and requirements.
- Clearly communicate and appropriately escalate issues to the UK & Europe Legal Lead and the Head of Legal, E&A. Build and maintain stakeholder relationships with relevant business stakeholders in WIB International and L&S colleagues (in particular, work closely with other colleagues across International Legal in London and New York and WIB Legal in Sydney) to ensure efficient and effective execution of legal support.
- Contribute to the strategic and operational performance of L&S by contributing new ideas and initiatives, developing “house views”, function-wide improvements and sharing knowledge.
What’s in it for me?
You’ll be joining a highly supportive and collaborative team with international coverage during a period of exciting growth within the international business.
You will have access to a comprehensive range of Westpac benefits including flexibility and various leave entitlements.
What do I need?
- Admitted as a solicitor, 3 - 5 years PQE.
- Private practice or in-house regulatory legal experience supporting institutional banking businesses (e.g., derivatives / loan markets or equivalent products).
- Ability to stay current with evolving legal and regulatory developments in the financial services sector.
- Excellent problem solving, decision-making and judgement and ability to work autonomously.
- Growth mindset and a willingness to learn about other areas within WIB.
- Proactive and well versed in understanding how businesses operate and applying your legal expertise and commercial judgement.
- EU / German advisory experience (highly desired).
- Experience negotiating derivatives transaction documentation (desirable).
What’s it like to work there?
When you join, you’ll become part of the broader Westpac Group family – where we aim to be a friendly, switched-on team working for a single purpose - Creating Better Futures Together – it’s what we do, who we are and why we come to work every day. As an equal opportunity employer, we’re proud to have created a culture where people can be their best, in an environment that values diversity and flexibility.
Within the Westpac Group, you will be part of the Institutional Banking division, where our vision is to be a high performing and innovative institutional bank, committed to enabling the growth of our global clients, our economy, and delivering sustainable shareholder returns.
How do I Apply?
Start Here. Just click on the APPLY button.
As part of our commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace, this role is open to experienced candidates seeking a discussion around workplace flexibility. We invite candidates of all ages, people with a disability and Indigenous Australians to apply.