Manager, Legal (PB & GM)

Define your future at HL Bank Singapore

Functional (job responsibilities) (Core Focus: PB, WM & GM)

1. Strategic Advisory & Legal Risk Management

• Proactive Legal Counsel: Provide strategic, business-focused legal advice to senior leaders and front-office teams strictly within PB, WM, and GM.
• Risk Identification & Analysis: Analyze and identify legal risks and implications across complex business transactions within these segments, offering commercially viable, risk-mitigated solutions.
• Regulatory Horizon Scanning: Keep senior management in all departments of the business informed of ongoing developments in laws and regulations that affect or could potentially affect the PB, WM, and GM business lines.
• Policy & Ethics Governance: Establish, implement, and maintain internal legal policies, corporate and legal ethics frameworks, and legal risk management policies specifically tailored for these business lines.
• Risk Culture Advocacy: Cultivate and advocate for an organizational culture centered on legal risk awareness and business-wide legal compliance across the covered segments.
• Litigation & Dispute Management: Aid Head of Compliance & Legal across the covered segments in the identification, mitigation, and management of litigation issues, contract disputes, and product liability, while providing strategic advice on all legal proceedings against the Bank.
• Operational Contract Review: Review, analyze, and provide expert legal advice to the business on all matters concerning applicable operational contracts required to run the covered segments.

2. Commercial Documentation & Process Improvement

• Interests Protection: Review, draft, and negotiate complex transactional documentation—including ISDA, GMRA, GMSLA, client terms & conditions, wealth product disclosures, and credit facility agreements—ensuring the Bank’s interests are fully protected.
• Process Optimization: Critically review existing workflows within the PB, WM, and GM legal scope and implement continuous process improvements to enhance the efficiency and speed of legal support.

3. Departmental Flexibility & Leadership Support (Fungibility)

• Cross-Functional Support: Demonstrate high fungibility by seamlessly cross-covering other Legal Managers during peak periods or absences, providing legal support across other banking domains as needed.
• Strategic Support: Act as a trusted sounding board and provide high-level assistance to the Head of Compliance & Legal on department-wide initiatives, special projects, or complex escalations.

4. External Counsel Management

• Oversight & Selection: Take full oversight of the selection process and manage ongoing relationships with external counsel specializing in wealth management, private banking, and global markets matters.
• Performance Assessment: Conduct regular, ongoing assessments of external counsel performance to ensure cost-efficiency, high-quality deliverables, and alignment with the Bank's standards.

5. Knowledge Sharing & Training

• Legal Awareness Training: Design, oversee, and ensure the delivery of legal training and awareness programs regarding legal matters and shifting issues affecting individual business activities and transactions.

Organizational (organizational responsibilities)

• Strong technical knowledge of Private Banking operations, Wealth Management products (derivatives, structured products, funds), and Treasury/Global Markets transactions (including ISDA, GMRA, and GMSLA documentation).

• Proven ability to be highly adaptable and resourceful; a quick learner capable of stepping outside the core PB/WM/GM scope to assist peers and support leadership.

• In-depth understanding of the Singapore legal landscape affecting these sectors, including the Securities and Futures Act (SFA), Financial Advisers Act (FAA), and Banking Act.
• Exceptional communication skills to cultivate corporate ethics and foster a highly risk-aware culture across the organization

Education/Qualification

• Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from a recognized university. Called to the Bar in Singapore or another common law jurisdiction

Experience/Requirements

• Minimum of 8–12 years of Post-Qualified Experience (PQE), with a significant portion spent in-house at a bank or a top-tier law firm specializing in Private Banking, Wealth Management, and Global Markets.
• Meticulous drafting and negotiation skills

About HL Bank Singapore
HL Bank Singapore is the Singapore branch of Hong Leong Bank, a premier regional financial services leader headquartered in Malaysia with a rich heritage of over 120 years. Listed on Bursa Malaysia and a key member of the extensive Hong Leong Group, we operate a robust network of approximately 250 branches across Malaysia, with a strategic regional presence in Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, and China.

As a Full Bank in Singapore, we serve as a vital hub for the Group’s regional ambitions. A cornerstone of this strategy is our sophisticated "advisory-first" wealth proposition through HLB Private Bank and HLB Priority. By combining our deep Asian market roots with a landmark strategic alliance with Swiss private bank Lombard Odier, we provide world-class wealth architecture and bespoke solutions for our clients.

Beyond our wealth focus, we deliver excellence through four core business pillars: Business & Corporate Banking, Personal Financial Services, Private Wealth Management, and Global Markets. This "Integrated Approach" allows our talent to collaborate seamlessly across segments, ensuring we effectively meet the multifaceted needs of high-net-worth individuals, business founders, and corporate enterprises alike.

At HL Bank Singapore, our people are central to our success, and as a recognized Human Capital Partner (HCP) by TAFEP, we are committed to progressive workplace practices and your professional development. We seek digitally inclined, customer-centric performers who thrive in a technology-focused environment, where we empower our teams with AI-enhanced tools and next-generation platforms to lead the industry. As part of a large, diversified conglomerate, we offer unrivaled opportunities to explore new grounds and build a challenging career path within a rapidly expanding regional landscape. Join us to be part of a proven value-creation story and shape the future of your own story at HL Bank Singapore.