Vice President, Investment Services (Operations)

The Settlements Lead will be part of the Operations pillar under Investment Services (IS).  The Settlements Lead will be responsible for overseeing end to end workflow (from account readiness to settlement for all investment activities across all asset classes. This role will involve close collaboration with internal Temasek teams as well as external counterparts (e.g., brokers, counterparties, custodians) to ensure infrastructure readiness, accurate and timely settlement of trades in accordance with control frameworks. The Settlements Lead will also be responsible for identifying opportunities for process improvements, and driving ongoing optimization in all settlement-related workflows, thereby increasing operational efficiencies, and reducing risk

Key Responsibilities:

Lead and oversee Account Services and Settlement processes.

Account Services

• Ensure that the processes for bank/broker /custodian onboarding/ on-going maintenance/ offboarding are in line with regulatory and governance requirements 
• Engage and work closely with internal stakeholders 
• Develop a framework to manage operational service provider relationships 
• Oversee and proactively manage relationships with operational service providers, defining key metrics to evaluate them by and monitoring and reviewing services on a periodic basis; key activities will include: 
  • Identifying a set of relevant KPIs and service level agreements (SLAs) to measure vendors and service providers
  • Conduct regular feedback sessions with relevant internal stakeholders to ensure the service provided by vendors is in alignment with their requirements

Settlement

• Oversee all settlement-related activities performed by the team, including settlement netting, executing payments and resolving failed trades
• Serve as the main point of contact for both internal Temasek teams and external parties to resolve issues and discrepancies related to settlements
• Maintain oversight of settlement-related controls and risk management frameworks, ensuring adherence to global regulatory requirements
• Ensure that all settlement activities are performed accurately and in a timely manner, escalating critical settlement failures to senior management where necessary 

Drive operational excellence in the processes

• Ensure that processes are in place from account services to settlement.  Accounts are onboarded and trades settle in a timely and accurate manner, with escalation protocols where necessary
• Improve related workflows on an ongoing basis,  identifying and executing on opportunities to drive efficiency gains
• Keep up to date on market developments in settlement regulations, and evaluate their impact on existing workflows

Serve as a business partner and advisor

• Work closely with the other teams in Operations and other internal stakeholders, answering all settlement-related queries and providing support as required
• Provide subject matter expertise into any new business initiatives, specifically highlighting settlement risks and specify operational requirements.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration / other related qualifications, or equivalent work experience 
• 10+ years of experience in a trade operations or settlements-related role, preferably with exposure to the Asset Management industry and focus on derivatives instrument.
• Experience with managing teams in a dynamic, fast-paced, and growing environment
• Strong leadership, strategic thinking, and problem-solving skills with the ability to influence others at all levels of the organization and harness best practices to drive efficiencies in ways of working.
• Results-orientated attitude with an attention to detail and accuracy
• Strong and effective communication skills, with ability to connect and work with multiple audiences (e.g., both internal and external stakeholders) and articulate points of view persuasively 
• It will be an advantage if the candidate has knowledge of public market.
• May require working during public holidays and on shift work rotation.