Assistant Vice President, Structuring Lawyer

Do you want your voice heard and your actions to count?

Discover your opportunity with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), one of the world’s leading financial groups. Across the globe, we’re 120,000 colleagues, striving to make a difference for every client, organization, and community we serve. We stand for our values, building long-term relationships, serving society, and fostering shared and sustainable growth for a better world. With a vision to be the world’s most trusted financial group, it’s part of our culture to put people first, listen to new and diverse ideas, and collaborate toward greater innovation, speed, and agility. This means investing in talent, technologies, and tools that empower you to own your career. Join MUFG, where being inspired is expected and making a meaningful impact is rewarded.

Overview of the Department/Section

The Legal department provides legal services to and manages the legal risk for MUFG Bank and MUFG Securities (EMEA) and the MUFG international business (collectively the “Firm”). Members of Legal are dual-hatted across MUFG Bank and MUFG Securities. Dual-hat employees will be expected to be entity neutral across all responsibilities to ensure that services are provided to both entities effective and without favor or detriment to the other entity.

The Legal department’s principal functions are to:

• Provide legal services and legal advice to each international securities business and banking businesses
• Draft, review and negotiate contractual documentation, whether transactional or non-transactional
• Draft notes and other product documentation and arrange for issuance of such notes and products
• Draft, review and negotiate ISDA documentation and related trading agreements and lending (syndicated or bilateral, ECA financings, LMA based or bespoke contractual arrangements)
• Provide legal and execution advice in relation to transactions and new business
• Provide transaction management support for securities issues and financing transactions arranged or underwritten by an international securities business
• Provide support for internal projects (internal restructurings and/or regulatory driven)
• Evaluate legal risk to ensure business is conducted in a lawful and professional manner
• Identify and advise on the implementation of new laws and regulations
• Provide legal oversight of regulatory matters and government affairs
• Manage all disputes, litigation, regulatory proceedings and other contentious matters
• Manage and approve all use of law firms

Main Purpose of the Role

An exciting new opportunity has emerged for a mid-level legal counsel to join MUFG EMEA Legal Department, based in London, covering a broad range of structured finance and derivatives transactions including global blended finance, securitization, structured products and repacks, structured repos, and hedging/derivative transactions.

Key Responsibilities

In this role, the successful candidate will be providing services which cover MUFG’s banking arm and securities business under a dual-hat arrangement. Under this arrangement, the employee will act and make decisions on behalf of both the bank and the securities business, subject to the same remit and level of authority, and irrespective of the entity which employs them.

• Provide legal advice, review draft and negotiate documentation and provide all related transaction management and project management for:
  • a broad range of highly complex structured finance, global blended finance and securitization transactions spanning a broad range of asset classes including carbon permits, ABS and synthetic structures.
  • Complex structured products and derivatives transactions including structured repos, repacks, TRS, equity and credit derivatives.
• Review, draft and negotiate transaction documents, term-sheets, client presentations and provide all related transaction management.
• Derivatives documentation including GMRA, ISDA, CSA and other finance linked hedging documentation.
• Advise and assist business units in the structuring and the setting-up of new & complex products and new business initiatives.
• Directly interact with the Firm’s clients, both in negotiating agreements and in assisting the business unit in explaining products to clients.
• Provide legal advice and support with respect to strategic, legal, and documentation matters and initiatives in relation to structuring transactions.
• Advise on the legal, regulatory, and reputational issues arising in transactions and in the non-transactional aspects of the operation and business activities of the Firm (both regionally and internationally) and work closely with the wider EMEA and International legal teams to serve business seamlessly as One MUFG.
• Advise on, participate in and implement Firm and International Business transactions, proceedings, actions, projects, and initiatives. This includes activity/projects to improve the delivery of legal services to the business and MUFG’s clients.
• Provide training on legal and regulatory issues to employees of the Firm and the International Business.
• Participate in industry forums and working groups.
• Participate in working groups and committees of the Firm and the International Business.
• Manage the engagement of law firms and legal spend efficiently.

Skills and Experience

• Functional / Technical Competencies:
• • University graduate
  • 2-5 years’ post-qualification legal experience working obtained either in private practice with a major law firm or in-house with another significant financial institution, sponsor or asset management firm
  • Strong technical understanding of structured finance transactions, in particular securitization, derivatives, and structured products.
  • Demonstrate commercial awareness of the latest market issues and regulatory changes.
  • Ability to build effective and positive client relationships quickly and fully embrace the importance of client service.
  • Ability to explain complex legal concepts to a non-technical audience.
  • Ability to speak/read another language is desirable although not essential
• Personal Requirements:
• • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written & verbal
  • Effective operating in a team and matrix-oriented environment, and ability to work with colleagues at all levels of seniority
  • Proactive and enthusiastic, with an inclination to drive change
  • Results driven, with a strong sense of accountability
  • Team player with an international outlook
  • Pragmatic, curious and commercially minded
  • Efficient working style with a good sense of independency, urgency, and commercial acumen

MUFG is committed to embracing diversity and building an inclusive culture where all employees are valued, respected and their opinions count. We support the principles of equality, diversity, and inclusion in recruitment and employment, and oppose all forms of discrimination on the grounds of age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy and maternity, race, gender reassignment, religion or belief and marriage or civil partnership. We make our recruitment decisions in a non-discriminatory manner in accordance with our commitment to identifying the right skills for the right role and our obligations under the law.

At MUFG, our colleagues are our greatest assets. Our Culture Principles provide a roadmap for how each of our colleagues must think and act to become more client-obsessed, inclusive and innovative. They reflect who we are, who we want to be, and what we expect from one another. We are excited to see you take the next step in exploring a career with us and encourage you to spend more time reviewing them!

Our Culture Principles

• Client Centric
• People Focused
• Listen Up. Speak Up.
• Innovate & Simplify
• Own & Execute