The APAC Corporate Banking Legal Team supports many of BNP Paribas’ Global Banking business lines across APAC. The work is wide ranging and covers structured/ syndicated lending (including Energy, Resources & Infrastructure, Transportation, Loan Capital Markets/ Fund Financing, Real Estate) through to Corporate Coverage, Transaction Banking (which covers Trade and Supply Chain Management, Cash Management etc.) to liquidity and investment solutions). On a needs basis, the team also handles debt recovery, insolvency and restructuring work for BNP Paribas’ Value Preservation Group (VPG) and supports the APAC Agency teams of BNP Paribas.
Each lawyer in the APAC Corporate Banking Legal team is a general banking lawyer capable of dealing with queries and transactions from any of the Global Banking business lines but who concurrently maintains a core area of specialisation in a specific industry, ensuring that there is a depth of knowledge, experience and expertise in each of those areas across the Team.
The team has members based in Hong Kong and Singapore and work closely with local Legal colleagues based in the other offices of BNP Paribas in APAC and beyond.
Each lawyer in the team is also a member of the LEGAL function’s Financing Platform; an organisation linking all lending and trade lawyers in BNP Paribas globally which offers regular opportunities to interact with BNP Paribas’ lawyers around the globe, consolidate know-how and to participate in cross-border projects and initiatives relating to various financing topics such as sustainable finance.
The candidate will be required to advise the BNP Paribas’ Global Banking business with a specific focus on Debt Financing, including Loan Capital Markets and Fund Financing.
Responsibilities
This role will primarily support BNP Paribas’ Global Banking business with a specific focus on advising the Debt Financing (Loan Capital Markets / Fund Financing) business.
The candidate will be expected to:
• Work directly and independently with the various business teams in reviewing and assisting in the structuring, drafting and negotiation of legal documentation and managing, from a legal risk perspective, the documentation process for financing transactions;
• Together with other members of the team, create, develop, maintain and update precedent documents and other agreements necessary to support the delivery by the Global Banking/ Transaction Banking businesses of the Bank in APAC of regional products and services;
• Advise and interact with other internal stakeholders and committees including Agency, Compliance, Risk and VPG in relation to legal issues arising in the course of advisory and transactional work;
• Instruct, supervise and maintain relationships with external lawyers across APAC;
• Assist in the management of legal risk in relation to financing transactions and matters through compliance with BNP Paribas’ Legal Policies and Procedures;
• Contribute to the creation, development, maintenance and communication of know-how, legal updates, legal policies and procedures;
• Lead, manage, assist on and implement multi-jurisdictional or transversal projects when needed including by close co-operation with other BNP Paribas in-house lawyers based in the other offices of BNP Paribas in APAC and globally; and
• Keep abreast of legal and regulatory developments in relation to banking and financing matters affecting the Corporate Banking Legal team in APAC.
Technical & Behavioral Competencies
The candidate should:
• Have strong legal analytical skills with a proven ability to document, manage and execute cross-border financing transactions.
• Experience and good knowledge of cross-border syndicated lending and security issues in Asia Pacific jurisdictions.
• Familiarity with export finance and trade finance would be advantageous.
• Strong familiarity in the use and negotiation of LMA/APLMA mandate and loan documentation is expected.
• Have a good grasp of the law in other legal areas such as dispute resolution and regulations relevant to loans and finance.
• Be independent and thorough in the execution of his/her work and be commercially minded while also maintaining principles of conduct with strong risk awareness.
• Have good time management skills and the ability to effectively prioritise competing work demands and to meet tight deadlines when required.
• Be a self-motivated and confident individual who can manage a diverse workload and stakeholders.
• Have strong interpersonal skills and be capable of working both autonomously and as part of a cross-disciplinary and cross-border team.
• Be a good team player who is conscientious, agile, open to acquiring new skills and working across diverse banking products.
Specific Qualifications
• Legally qualified in England, Hong Kong, Singapore, or any other common law jurisdiction with a minimum of 4 years PQE in the banking and finance department of an international/ regional law firm or with the Legal departments of an international bank or financial institution and specializing in financing work.
• Excellent command of spoken and written English.
• Proficiency (spoken and written) in a third language (e.g. Mandarin) will be advantageous.
About BNP PARIBAS
As the leading European Union bank, and one of the world’s largest financial institutions with an uninterrupted presence in the region since 1860, BNP Paribas offers a wide range of financial services for corporate, institutional and private investors spanning corporate and institutional banking, wealth management, asset management and insurance.
We passionately embrace diversity and are committed to fostering an inclusive workplace where all employees are valued and encourage applicants of all backgrounds, including diversity of origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion applicants who may be living with a disability. We have a number of internal employee networks in place to empower our staff to act and challenge the status quo.
BNP Paribas PRIDE is highly active in favour of the LGBTQIA+ community
BNP Paribas MixCity which fosters better representation of women at all levels of the organization
Ability, the mutual aid network for employees with a disability or a disabling or chronic illness
BNP Paribas CulturAll which celebrates diverse backgrounds
BNP is committed to financing a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. The Group is a founding member of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance and has set up its own Low Carbon Transition Group to support its clients through their energy transitions.
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