VP – Trade Surveillance - Controls and Desk Reviews Compliance Officer – Japan Coverage

Responsibilities

(Trade Surveillance Expert for Japan Market, experience in Asia Ex-Japan markets is a plus)

Control Reviews / Desk Reviews

• Contribute to the delivery of the global RACR program through effective collaboration with Capital Markets Surveillance (CMS), Change Management & Transformation (CMT), Compliance (CPLE), Global Markets (MARK), and other relevant stakeholders.
• Liaise with Market Surveillance Officers and stakeholders globally, with a particular focus on supporting and coordinating activities relating to the Japan business.
• Perform control reviews and desk reviews in accordance with established RACR methodologies, procedures, and governance standards.
• Execute the review roadmap for the Japan perimeter and monitor remediation activities where appropriate.
• Coordinate governance activities related to RACR reviews, including meeting organization, documentation, action tracking, and reporting.
• Ensure surveillance repositories, review documentation, and supporting records remain accurate and up to date.
• Maintain comprehensive documentation of both existing and legacy trade surveillance controls.
• Maintain and periodically review the inventory of surveillance controls applicable to the Japan perimeter.
• Support ongoing engagement with Compliance Market Integrity teams, business stakeholders, internal audit, and other control functions as required.
• Act as the primary RACR representative for Japan and support management-driven projects and strategic initiatives.

Continuous Enhancement of the Trade Surveillance Framework

• Assess control effectiveness and identify potential weaknesses, gaps, or enhancement opportunities arising from reviews and assessments.
• Partners with surveillance specialists, business stakeholders, and project teams to enhance existing controls and strengthen surveillance coverage.
• Support calibration reviews and challenge the effectiveness of existing surveillance scenarios and thresholds.
• Engage with surveillance vendors to evaluate and enhance the effectiveness of surveillance solutions.
• Assist in the design and implementation of solutions aimed at improving surveillance efficiency, effectiveness, and risk coverage.
• Identify and support the development of new surveillance controls to address emerging risks, new business activities, or evolving regulatory expectations.

Regulatory Watch

• Monitor and assess Japanese and international regulatory developments relevant to trade surveillance and market conduct.
• Proactively identify, analyse, and communicate the impact of regulatory changes on surveillance activities and control frameworks.
• Identify new surveillance capabilities and controls available from external vendors (e.g., Nasdaq SMARTS, TradingHub and other providers) that could enhance surveillance coverage and effectiveness.

Management Information & Reporting

• Develop and produce meaningful management information, key metrics, and reporting relating to risks, control effectiveness, and RACR outcomes.
• Support governance forums, senior management reporting, regulatory examinations, internal audit reviews, and other stakeholder requests as required.

HKMA Enhanced Competency Framework (ECF) certification is preferred

Profile required

• Extensive relevant experience in the financial industry with good knowledge of the Japanese financial industry being a pre-requisite for this role which will cover Trade Surveillance activities for Japan.
• Strong working knowledge of local regulatory requirements for the Japan market, with deep product experience in Equities, Equity Derivatives, Prime Brokerage, SDMA/DMA/HFT.
• Proven track record in a Trading, Front office control function, 2nd line trade surveillance or Compliance function is preferred.
• Excellent communication skills, ideally native / fluent in Japanese, with business level English.

Business Skills

• In-depth knowledge of the regulatory environment and associated risks within the financial sector or regulatory/supervisory body.
• Deep understanding of compliance and trade surveillance risk management and analysis.
• Strong product knowledge on the entity/branch's products, markets, and operational systems.

Leadership Skills

• Possess strong leadership and communication abilities, with a strong emphasis on fostering collaboration.

• Proven experience of overseeing operational processes with a high level of risk awareness.

• Ability to engage with business units as an independent partner, effectively articulating positions while understanding their concerns.

• Demonstrated autonomy and decisiveness in complex situations.

• Commitment to integrity and exemplary conduct.

• Proficient in coordinating and motivating teams, with strong persuasive skills.

• Experience working in a matrix environment, with the ability to collaborate across functions and influence stakeholders.

• Strong organizational skills, with the capability to help structure, engage, and inspire people.

• Ability to work independently and collaboratively with cross-functional team.

Technical Skills

• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, with a well-organized approach to tasks and projects.

• Strong understanding and familiar with the trade surveillance system, such as SMARTS from NASDAQ.

• Perform quantitative analysis and statistical back-testing of surveillance scenarios and alert outputs to evaluate alert quality, optimize thresholds, measure control performance, and identify opportunities to improve risk coverage while reducing false positives.

• Leverage data analytics techniques to assess surveillance effectiveness.

Why join us

Department Description

Within Compliance, Capital Markets Surveillance (CMS') team addresses capital markets surveillance of GBS Wholesale Banking activities. The function's core activities include Trade and Communications surveillance activities along with the processing of Significant Shareholding Disclosures for the group and the newly formed Risk Assessment and Control Review team (RACR).

The Trade Surveillance (TS') mission is to design, implement and review the output of surveillance controls that are intended to detect trading practices that appear to be abusive/manipulative or potentially contrary to regulations or firm policies.

The Communication Surveillance (CS') mission is to implement risk-based systems and controls to review and analyze Communication mediums across SG to identify, escalate and track, through successful resolution, potential anomalies which could be in breach of internal or external rules.

The Risk Assessment and Control Review (RACR) team is a critical part of the Capital Markets Surveillance function which is responsible for developing and conducting a robust risk assessment and control and desk review program that facilitates the ongoing assessment of trade surveillance control efficacy. The RACR function works in tandem with the trade surveillance teams and the Change Management Team in performing their tasks to develop and conduct an effective surveillance program.

The Controls and Desk Reviews Compliance Officer - Japan Coverage will serve as the primary RACR point of contact for the Japan perimeter. The individual will be responsible for conducting risk assessments, trade surveillance control reviews, and trading desk reviews covering Japan markets, products, and activities, while ensuring adherence to applicable regulatory requirements, internal standards, and market practices. The role requires extensive interaction with local stakeholders in Japan as well as global surveillance and compliance teams.

Business insight

Our Culture

At Societe Generale, we live by our 4 core values of commitment, responsibility, team spirit and innovation. We are engaged and demonstrate consideration for others. We act ethically and with courage. We focus our talent and energy on collective success. We experiment and propose new ideas. This way, we maximize our ability to serve client needs and anticipate market changes. Societe Generale is committed to strengthening bonds with colleagues, communities, and the world in which we live, because relationships are at the heart of how we operate. Please visit our APAC career website: https://www.societegenerale.asia/en/careers/building-your-career-with/ for more information.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I)

Our mission: Recruit, develop, advance, and retain a diverse workforce that is united in our efforts to enhance our competitive position and deliver innovative solutions to our clients.

Our vision:

• Engaged workforce that is demographically diverse in a way that reflects the communities in which we operate
• Inclusive culture and workplace that recognizes employees' unique needs and utilizes their diverse talents
• Engage our community and marketplace, and position the organization to meet the needs of all its clients

Check out our DE&I initiatives: https://www.societegenerale.asia/en/careers/diversity-equity-inclusion-dei/

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