If you are interested in this candidate, please contact Charlie Watson via email cwatson@cerfinancial.co.uk or call on 0207 626 6065.

00354930

PROFILE:

I have worked in the investment fund industry for 20 years, beginning in operations and fund administration before moving to compliance. My employers have been a global fund administrator, a family office, an international bank and most recently an asset manager. I am an engineering graduate from the University of London and have completed the IOC (formerly IAQ) and IMC certificates. I have also held Controlled Functions and Senior Manager Functions for approximately 10 years.

CAREER HISTORY:

December 2018 – December 2024

Asset Management

Group Compliance Officer

• Report into the Boards of the parent and subsidiary companies on all compliance and AML matters. Appointed the SMF16 and SMF17 for the UK firm.
• Primary point of contact with regulators, including, inter alia, the FCA (UK), CIMA (Cayman), CSSF (Lux), SEC (USA), FSRA (Abu Dhabi), and for overseeing all regulatory reporting.
• Continue the development and implementation of the firm’s compliance program, ensuring the business remains compliant with all relevant laws, regulations, and best practices.
• Draft, review, and update the Compliance, AML and CTF policies, ensuring adherence to legal and regulatory obligations.
• Verifying the restricted investments and insider lists, maintaining registers for personal account dealing, trade breaches, gifts and entertainments, conflicts of interest, and complaints handling.
• Conduct compliance and AML audits and assessments, presenting the findings to senior management and recommend corrective actions.
• Perform due diligence reviews on the firm’s key service providers: administrators, custodians and management companies and fund distributors.
• Review and approve marketing material and investor publications.
• Implement the firm’s SMCR requirements and arrange training for affected staff.
• Devise the KYC program for on-boarding clients, service providers, and shareholders.
• Ensure sanctions compliance with all relevant regimes, in particular OFAC, OFSI, UN and EU.
• Member of the risk committee, detecting compliance related risks and implementing appropriate measures to mitigate.

December 2016 – November 2018

Financial Services

Senior Compliance Manager

• Provide compliance oversight of the Bank’s Wealth Management & Investment Services division, which consist of fund administration, custody, and corporate trust business lines.
• Perform assessments of business line controls in mitigating regulatory risks.
• Carry out internal compliance processes including Business Change Risk Assessments, Regulatory Change Management Projects and Third-Party Risk reviews.
• Provide Subject Matter Expertise to the business lines on the application of EU and UK regulations and industry best practices.
• Oversee the implementation of key regulations such as Market Abuse Regulation, MiFID 2, Deposit Guarantee Scheme, SM&CR, CSDR and GDPR.
• Act as point of contact for the UK Branch for FCA, PRA and CBoI inquiries.
• Member of the business acceptance committee for approving new clients and transactions.

May 2016 – November 2016: Career Break

September 2011 – April 2016

Fund Management

Compliance and Operations Manager

• Appointed the CF10 and CF11 controlled functions for the firm, providing regulatory advice to senior management and the BoD for all compliance matters including AIFMD and MIFID.
• Author and signing off the company’s annual ICAAP, AML and CFT reports.
• Manage the Compliance Monitoring, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity programs.
• Produce FCA and CSSF returns, including FCA fee blocks, FCA surveys and AIF returns; liaising with both regulators for all fund and business matters.
• Run the operations due diligence program for Private Equity, UCITS, and AIF investments.
• Establishing the operational processes for trading, cash management, and NAV calculations.
• Oversight of all third-party provider relationships, agreeing the operating memorandum for the custodial, audit, and administrative relationships.
• Oversee the audit process and publication of the Financial Statements for the company and funds.

May 2004 – September 2011

Financial Services

Manager, Operations

• Manage teams based in London and Mumbai in covering the day-to-day operational requirements and BAU processes for several Private Equity and Hedge Fund clients.
• Senior point of contact for client inquiries; required a sound grasp of operational aspects of Private Equity and Hedge Fund activity including cash, position, NAV and P&L reconciliations.
• Resolving issues pertaining to Exchange Traded and OTC products with particular emphasis on Fixed Income, Equity, Futures, Options, CFDs and FX.
• Represent the operations department on audit, due diligence, and board meetings.
• Maintain two PB relationships, covering issues raised by mutual clients regarding daily cash and asset reporting, corporate action processing, and trade settlement requirements.
• Working with internal departments (Transfer Agents, IT, Data Management, Pricing and Legal) in organising the service level and administrative agreements for UCITs and Hedge Funds.
• Partake in the UAT program for an order management system for trading equities and fixed income.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:

2006-2007: Investment Management Certificate (IMC)

Investment Practice / UK Regulations and Markets

2005-2006: Investment Administrative Qualification (IAQ)

Exchange Traded Derivatives / FSA Regulations / Securities and Investments

EDUCATION:

1996-2000: University

Degree: Civil Engineering with Honours; Grade: 2:2

1989-1996: High School

4 A Levels including Maths, Physics; 10 GCSEs including English, Business Studies

INTERESTS AND SKILLS:

Outside of work I enjoy music, films, classic literature, travelling and numerous sports. Through my studies and employment, I have developed strong problem-solving skills and a high level of numeracy and literacy. Application wise I am proficient at using Bloomberg, World-Check One, Kondor, Advent Geneva and MS Office suite. I speak intermediate Italian and hold a clean driving license.

References Available Upon Request

If you are interested in this candidate, please contact Charlie Watson via email cwatson@cerfinancial.co.uk or call on 0207 626 6065.

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