Vice President - International Tax Utility - Bank

Key Skills:

- HongKong Stamp Duty,

- International Tax Operation,

- Transaction tax,

- Capital Gains Tax,

- Withholding Tax,

- Knowledge of Financial Products.

Job Description :

- Leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments and individuals from more than 1,200 offices in 43 countries.

- As a market leader, the talent and passion of our people is critical to our success. Together, we share a common set of values rooted in integrity, excellence and strong team ethic. Organization can provide a superior foundation for building a professional career - a place for people to learn, to achieve and grow. A philosophy that balances personal lifestyles, perspectives and needs is an important part of our culture.

- Operations is one of the largest divisions in the Firm and has diverse responsibilities, including correctly settling and recording millions of transactions per day, identifying and mitigating operational risks, developing strong client relationships and partnering with technology to realise the full potential of IT solutions. Operations continually seek ways to improve while actively supporting the development of new businesses, structures and markets. Firmwide Operations includes Shared Services and Banking Operations (SSBO), Operations Risk and Control, Global Project Group, Branch Operations and Divisional Management.

- The profile of Operational Taxes has seen an exponential increase in recent years as governments globally react to the financial crisis and the focus on tax revenue collection increases. This increase in tax activity requires the Operations division to implement new processes to support these taxes. This is an exciting opportunity for someone who would like to make a direct contribution in managing operational tax risk within the Firm. This role is unique in setting the standard for how firms will manage operational tax risk in the future.

- International Tax Utility (ITU) helps senior management and its individual business units manage the Firm's Tax risk by owning and driving forward the Operational Tax Control framework. Maintaining and enhancing the internal operating processes, the division is crucial to safeguarding the Firm's franchise, proactively identifying and reporting on all in scope Tax risks.

- The Asia Tax Utility (Asia ITU) team forms part of the broader ITU group, a department dedicated to streamlining and enhancing the operational tax environment within company, specifically focusing on Asian operational taxes. The group is responsible for setting best practice with regards to controlling and mitigating operational tax risk and performs a number of control / operational functions over a variety of withholding and transactional taxes generated by trading activities across multiple divisions including Equities, Fixed Income, Derivatives and Financing. The successful candidate will therefore work closely with all Operations groups across the firm covering all product lines, Corporate Tax Department and the Business Units. Asia ITU is currently based in Hong Kong, and is looking to expand its presence in Mumbai.

- At a macro level, the multi-faceted and dynamic role requires the candidate to review existing operational tax processes, analyse the operational tax impact of tax regulatory changes and new business proposals in order to be able to influence the implementation of change, in a highly pressured environment.

- We are looking for a candidate who is driven to provide consistently high standards, keen to identify and resolve issues, will challenge existing processes and controls whilst working with cross functional teams to implement technological or non-technological operational improvements.

Primary Responsibilities :

- Provide cross Operational and Business Unit tax support in regards to operational taxes hence knowledge of the banking sector and ideally experience of working in an operational taxes environment or supporting operational taxes from a tax technical perspective

- To manage and own the execution of Quality Assurance initiatives and deep dive reviews for Asia and supporting the global ITU remit

- To monitor and review impact of tax changes on operational tax processing and communicate implications to key stakeholders for Asian region and oversee the implementation of changes in processes, if any

- To work with Corporate Tax to interpret the legislation and to provide guidance and work with Operations teams and the Business units to implement required operational processes primarily for Asia region but working in conjunction with the global team

- To manage the creation and documentation of operational tax requirements, processes, policies and procedures for Operations to correctly set up systems to ensure tax compliance - primarily for Asia but also to support the global team as a whole

- To engage in operational tax processing in specified Asian jurisdictions

- To attend and represent company at industry forums where legislation and practical difficulties are being discussed

- Work effectively across geographical and functional boundaries demonstrating strong relationship skills

Qualifications :

Skills Required:

- Minimum of 10 years of experience in a Tax Operations or Tax Advisory role, with solid understanding of one or more business areas, e.g. Equities, Fixed Income, Listed and OTC Derivatives

- Have a good technical understanding of operational tax issues (transactional, withholding tax and capital gains tax) and their implications to an international financial institution, including identifying tax issues as they impact processes and the ability to analyse, understand and communicate tax regulations to internal and external stakeholders

- Previous experience in dealing with HK stamp duty and other Asia operational tax processing, and in conducting quality assurance or deep dive initiatives a plus

- Track record of building and managing teams, possess strong team working skills, willing to put forward ideas, coach colleagues and challenge current practice

- Motivated, self-driven and excited by an operational role with changing priorities and objectives often with tight deadlines

- Proactive management of global and regional stakeholders operating in a complex and fast moving environment

- A strong communicator with good organization and project management skills as the role involves leading tax projects (both technological or non-technological) and communicating to a wide range of stakeholders at various levels of the firm

- Strong and proficient in influencing stakeholders in effecting change within the division and across a large stakeholder group including business units

- Operational mindset focusing on improving operational tax processes and procedures and experience and propensity in working with systems and automation using Agile approach

- High level of ownership and accountability