Description:

Job Role
The Legal Officer will closely work with the Company Secretary & Legal Counsel to ensure that the Bank materially complies with all legal, regulatory and procedural requirements in the effective Management of Legal Risk across the enterprise.

Summary of Key Responsibilities:

• Be the Bank’s chief draughts person and advise the Bank on the legality or lack thereof of bespoke agreements
• Interfacing with the Bank’s compliance function in ensuring effective implementation and operationalization of the Bank’s Compliance Universe.
• Interfacing with external lawyers to ensure effective management of debt recovery litigation.
• Reviewing customer collateral packs on a regular basis to maintain an appropriate level Of credit risk.
• Recommending and making appropriate changes to workflows aimed at ensuring collateral is verified and perfected pre-disbursement and kept safe at all times.
• Making yearly adjustments to process controls to improve debt recoverability by ensuring good collateral quality.
• Managing verification process of collateral to ensure documents held correspond with physical assets as described in the documents, Including establishing relationships with surveyors and other verification agencies.
• Ensuring that collateral verification reports are submitted to Credit department prior to approval/disbursement as requested.
• Maintaining appropriate documentation and other information in the customer collateral files and ensure these are complete and in line with approval terms.
• Reviewing and monitoring compliance with the policies and procedures of security agreements (guarantees, liens, debentures, mortgages etc.)
• Maintaining and providing adequate information on property price trends, impact of government regulation and developments in areas where securities are held and escalate any adverse information to the Legal Counsel.
• Participating in appropriate legal and credit groups to improve credit and legal knowledge across the enterprise.
• Preparing and reviewing of lease/ tenancy agreements with respect to leased Bank premises.
• Working with the Human Resource department to prepare and or review employment contracts and review of the Memorandum of Collective Agreement between the bank and the Union and further rendering legal opinions and advise on various employment matters.
• Working with the Compliance department to provide legal assistance and interpretation of regulations and bank wide compliance requirements.
• Rendering legal opinions on various matters relating to Service Level Agreements; credit facility agreements; disciplinary cases; retail customer relations, etc
• Effectively interfacing with external counsel to manage and expedite debt recovery cases, among other things.

Required Skills and Competencies

• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Strategic thinker.
• Attention to detail.
• Good judgement
• Skilled in identifying legal problems, interpreting and evaluating legal information.
• Strong problem solving skills
• Good organizational skills
• High integrity.

Primary Areas of Accountability: