Vice President & Assistant General Counsel, Equities Legal, APAC

Job Description:

At Bank of America, we are guided by a common purpose to help make financial lives better through the power of every connection. Responsible Growth is how we run our company and how we deliver for our clients, teammates, communities and shareholders every day.
 
One of the keys to driving Responsible Growth is being a great place to work for our teammates around the world. We’re devoted to being a diverse and inclusive workplace for everyone. We hire individuals with a broad range of backgrounds and experiences and invest heavily in our teammates and their families by offering competitive benefits to support their physical, emotional, and financial well-being.
 
Bank of America believes both in the importance of working together and offering flexibility to our employees. We use a multi-faceted approach for flexibility, depending on the various roles in our organization.
 
Working at Bank of America will give you a great career with opportunities to learn, grow and make an impact, along with the power to make a difference. Join us!

Job Description:
The Attorney is a member of the Asia Pacific Legal Department.  The role will involve providing legal analysis and advice to the Equities business (and various support functions) in the Asia Pacific region with a primary focus on equities execution services.  From time to time, the role will involve providing assistance to other lawyers in the team in relation to other products and documents covered by the team, including the structured products business. The role is located in Hong Kong.

Responsibilities:

• Part of the APAC Equities Legal team comprising 13+ lawyers in HK, Japan and Australia.
• Working with another senior lawyer to provide day-to-day legal support to the Global Markets Equities business in all markets in Asia Pacific, with primary focus on advising the equities execution services business on brokerage arrangements, electronic trading, direct market access, block trades, client facilitation, commission sharing, exchange-traded funds, and all APAC markets-specific trading and regulatory requirements such as short selling, best execution and licensing.
• Prepare and negotiate legal documentation for the equities execution services business, including brokerage agreements, terms of business, commission sharing agreements, ETF participating dealer agreements, electronic trading agreements, co-location terms and APAC markets-specific trading terms.
• Provide legal analysis and advice on cross line of business initiatives and transactions involving equities execution services, including research sales, share buyback transactions initiated by Equity Capital Markets and underwriting proposals from Investment Banking which requires bespoke set-up on the equities execution side. 
• Track, evaluate and advise on the impact of regulatory and licensing issues/developments on the equities execution services and wider Equities business in APAC.
• Evaluate and advise on new projects, initiatives and proposals.
• Represent Bank of America in relevant industry and trade association working groups to evaluate and respond to regulatory consultation proposals.
• Review and remediate existing documents and templates in connection with regulatory reform projects.
• Engage and manage external counsel in various jurisdictions to obtain quality advice concerning a range of regulatory issues (including licensing issues).
• Work with other members of the Equities Legal team on other products covered by the broader team (e.g. structured products), and other legal teams in APAC, EMEA and the US.
• Assist with broader Legal department projects, as required.
• Work with Compliance, Operations, Risk, Business Control and other departments to ensure proper risk management, governance and control of business units.

Required Skills:

• Junior to mid-level lawyer admitted to practice in Hong Kong (or in another common law jurisdiction) with at least 4+ years PQE.
• Experience of investment banking (preferably markets businesses) in an in-house legal department or through private practice advisory work.
• Experience of legal advisory work on cash equities and associated legal documentation.
• Ability to work rapidly and effectively under time pressure.
• Ability to communicate effectively by being clear and concise in oral and written communications, and to ask questions when unsure.
• Strong interpersonal and social skills with team-work oriented mindset is a must as you will work along side other lawyers in the team to deliver timely advice and guidance to the various business groups.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Ability to think critically and flexibly, and proactively suggest solutions to achieve the relevant business goals.
• Excellent research and legal writing skills.
• Willingness to work as a member of a local, regional and global team and strong curiosity in developments/changes in financial practice and environment.
• Business level fluency in oral and written English. Chinese language capability is an advantage.