Vice President, Participation and Credit Risk

Job Purpose 

Established in 2002 as a result of unprecedented co-operation among the global FX community, CLS began settling FX payment instructions in 2002 in seven currencies for 39 settlement members. Today, CLS settles on average $5 trillion payment instructions daily in 18 currencies for 74 settlement members and over 25,000 third-party customers. CLS is supervised by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which co-ordinates with the CLS Oversight Committee, a formal co-operative oversight arrangement established by 23 central banks whose currencies are settled in CLS.

CLS Risk Management is led by the Chief Risk Officer (CRO), who reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer and, to ensure independence, also reports to the Risk Management Committee of the CLS Group Board.  The CLS Risk Management framework provides robust processes, tools, reporting and controls for identifying, monitoring and managing risks which may affect the operational resilience, credit, liquidity and legal requirements of the CLS services.

Reporting to the CRO, the Participation and Credit Risk (PCr) department is responsible for establishing the requirements for identifying, assessing, managing, monitoring and reporting participant risk at CLS, including calculation and adjustment of aggregate short position limits and the assessment of compliance with initial onboarding requirements as well as on-going participation eligibility for direct service participants, currencies, and liquidity providers,  (i.e., financial institutions with whom CLS enters into and maintains liquidity facilities). CLS is exposed to modest residual credit risk from each settlement member to the extent that they incur a short position in one or more eligible currencies.   

The position will work closely with diverse managers across all 3LODs at CLS Group to

• Develop and maintain statistical and econometric risk models such as indicators of sovereign credit risk and measures of settlement member financial and operational resilience.
• Identify and monitor emerging economic risks/vulnerabilities in the jurisdictions that CLS operates in, as well as the global macro-financial environment.
• Perform analyses and prepare reports that summarize and highlight key economic, financial, and geopolitical risks, for senior management
• Collaborate with CLS Technology to develop the appropriate risk infrastructure to house the quantitative models.

The role is prepared to:

• Monitor market and political events relating to sovereign and financial institution of direct CLS service participants and Liquidity Providers, and identify potential areas of financial and operational concerns;
• Conduct macro risk assessments of sovereign jurisdictions and financial institutions that are either existing participant of the ecosystem or are applying to become participant of CLS Settlement Services;
• Contribute to the research and development of internal metrics that quantitatively measure and estimate the degree of potential systemic risk that CLS faces.

The position requires involves active engagement and collaboration with a diverse audience of CLS stakeholders. Internal CLS stakeholders include: (i.) CLS’s Executive Management Committee, (ii.) other teams within Risk Department, (iii.) Product/Sales, (iv.) Legal, (v.) Compliance, (vi.) Operations, (vii.) Information Technology and (viii) Internal Audit as it relates to sovereign and, participation and credit risk issues.  

Other CLS stakeholders include: (i.) CLS Bank regulators, (ii) CLS’s Risk Management Committee, (iii.) CLS Bank Members, (iv.) CLS Bank Liquidity Providers and (v) other systemically-important participants operating within the CLS services.

The position offers a truly global opportunity to apply economic analysis, statistical methods, strategic planning and risk management disciplines to the CLS Group’s global foreign exchange settlement service and the broader CLS Ecosystem. The small size and high caliber of the PCr team offers the opportunity to work closely with the CLS Executive Management Committee and other internal and external risk managers.   

Essential Functions

Strategic

The role will have responsibility for a global portfolio of sovereign and financial institutions counterparties and tasked with monitoring and evaluating macroeconomic and banking systemic risks, competitive and regulatory developments, in addition to managing annual strategic portfolio reviews of the sovereign jurisdictions and financial institutions.   

The position involves continuous refinement to CLS internal benchmarks, risk analytical tools, processes and procedures for managing country and financial institution risks exposures in CLS and the broader CLS ecosystem.

The role offers the opportunity to engage in pivotal projects relating to emerging growth prospects for the organization. The position is intricately tied to fostering cross-functional collaborations across the organization, and wielding the ability to shape senior management perspectives and engage with CLS regulators.

• Making recommendations on sovereigns and financial institutions that merit additional attention due to inherent risks, potentially impacting the respective credit limits;
• Monitoring sovereign and financial institutions ratings changes;
• Following and analyzing economic and political dynamics in key developed and emerging market economies, and drawing connections between these shifts and their impact on CLS ecosystem.

Leadership

The successful candidate will cultivate profound connections spanning both within and beyond CLS, and foster a strong culture of collaboration and partnership, including all of the following opportunities:  

• Opportunity to have a significant impact on risk strategy, appetite, and growth plans
• Broad exposure to management across businesses, functions and geographies
• Highly entrepreneurial role with significant room for project ownership and new idea generation
• Opportunity to be part of a fast-paced, high caliber Risk/Compliance team with challenging goals and a strong commitment to excellence

Essential / Desired Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Statistics, Quantitative/Mathematical Finance, Economics, or a related quantitative field, and a 7+ years of professional experience in the job offered or in a related role with the experience of:
  • Banking institution market or credit risk model development, model implementation, and data analysis using R and
  • Analyzing, understanding and presenting the risk profiles of banking institutions and sovereign jurisdictions using both qualitative and quantitative methods
• Excellent understanding of financial markets risks and macroeconomics indicators.
• Exceptional writing and presentation skills
• Strong organizational and time-management skills, as well as critical thinking

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities / Leadership / Opportunities / Success Factors – “How”

• Ability to work diligently and with limited supervision and in close partnership with CLS Group colleagues, business, and risk management professionals, and CLS regulators.
• Ability to collaborate efficiently and effectively with CLS Group teammates and maintain a professional demeanor at all times.
• Ability to defend risk management recommendations clearly and logically in a committee / conference call forum.
• Ability to work positively and energetically in a small team environment, and to assist with ad-hoc management of tasks that may not be the immediate responsibility of PCr, is essential.

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