Senior Business Acceptance Manager

Overview of role

This is an exciting opportunity for an individual looking for significant responsibility and the opportunity to develop and manage a business acceptance team. The Senior Business Acceptance Manager will manage a team responsible for new business acceptance for Dubai and Hong Kong WPS business lines.

We are seeking an experienced individual with significant team management experience, as well as the compliance expertise to join the WPS Compliance Team. The successful candidate would need to be a proactive team player with excellent inter-personal skills and have the ability to build and foster a collaborative working relationship both within the team and with business colleagues in WPS and the law firm. The successful candidate must have a proven track record of fostering a positive and proactive culture amongst the team and be able to advocate for and lead the team to embed best practice and promote that culture across WPS business lines.

The role will involve significant responsibility for WPS new business intake processes, as well as supporting anti-money laundering and regulatory obligations. This will include new business escalations and approvals and reporting. The role will involve a broad range of compliance matters, including anti-money laundering, counter terrorist financing and sanctions risk.

It will include team management, communicating with key stakeholders in the business, workflow allocation and management, project management, handling escalations, introducing process efficiencies and embedding a risk based approach. The successful candidate will work with the Compliance Leadership Team, WPS Senior Management, and the law firm to embed streamlined and effective business acceptance processes and promote best practice across their region, including improvement initiatives to Intapp, and our business acceptance policies, procedures and processes.

The successful applicant will manage the day to day running of the team, handling jurisdiction specific compliance queries and issues, regulatory requirements and projects. The successful applicant will work in close collaboration with the Senior Business Acceptance Managers for the other regions on global projects and initiatives.

We are looking for candidates based in Dubai or Hong Kong, however the successful applicant will occasionally be required to travel to other offices when necessary.

Duties, Responsibilities & Person Specification

• Manage the WPS Asia and Middle East team, who deal with business acceptance and compliance queries for WPS in Dubai and Hong Kong;
• Developing an Asia and Middle East "hub" to support the region;
• Supervision, mentoring and development of the members of the team;
• Leading on team projects and ensuring the team is resolving incoming queries and new business intake requests promptly;
• Provide practical and prompt advice and assistance to the business in relation to applicable AML/CTF (including CDD) obligations;
• Work closely with the Head of Business Acceptance WPS and other senior Business Acceptance Managers in embedding of compliance policies, procedures, training and guidance to support the business;
• Provide WPS and Partners with day to day compliance expertise and support, to ensure that the on boarding procedures for all clients and matters are adequately met from an AML/CTF perspective;
• Conduct file reviews and implement a quality assurance framework for Asia and Middle East WPS Compliance
• Work closely with operational teams to ensure that the firm's AML/CTF obligations are met;
• Assist with drafting, updating and maintaining compliance related documentation, including policies and procedures;
• Supervision of the team in dealing with compliance queries and escalations, providing any training and support required;
• Input into the continued development of a strong compliance culture, ensuring WPS understand and take ownership for managing compliance within their business areas. This will include interfacing with the businesses to ensure that the implementation of new procedures are understood and followed.
• Assist with the preparation for regulatory inspections and submissions; and
• Assist the GC and Head of Compliance WPS with regional and global business acceptance and on-boarding projects as required and support and promote a positive and proactive compliance culture across the team and regions

Education, Skills & Experience

• Graduate with a minimum of 6 years' experience in an international compliance function role with a focus on AML and other financial crime, preferably in a law firm environment.
• Experience of managing a compliance or business acceptance team in a law firm environment.
• Practical knowledge and experience of applying a risk based approach to compliance.
• Knowledge of sanctions regimes, PEPs and other high risk categories; understanding of offshore structures, particularly in a funds context.