Senior Manager - Investment COE

About FWD Group

FWD Group (1828.HK) is a pan-Asian life and health insurance business that serves approximately 40 million customers across 10 markets, including BRI Life in Indonesia. FWD’s customer-led and tech-enabled approach aims to deliver innovative propositions, easy-to-understand products and a simpler insurance experience. Established in 2013, the company operates in some of the fastest-growing insurance markets in the world with a vision of changing the way people feel about insurance. FWD Group is listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code 1828.

For more information, please visit www.fwd.com

FWD Technology and Innovation Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., known as FWD TIM, was established in late 2019. Strategically located in Kuala Lumpur, FWD TIM serves as a pivotal shared service location within FWD Group, providing services to multiple markets across the Group. FWD TIM houses a diverse and talented workforce focused on essential business and technology services such as information security, cloud operations, IT solutions delivery, digital and data, actuarial, finance, investments, and customer service, among many others. FWD TIM is dedicated to drive and deliver operational excellence and efficiency, foster innovation and ensure regulatory compliance across all business functions as well as maintain a competitive edge in the market.

PURPOSE

• Reporting to the Head of the ICOE, this is the key business and technical subject matter expert for group-wide on Bloomberg and Clearwater, to integrate Bloomberg into all Investments and Finance systems infrastructure (Clearwater, Investment Data Repository and all other internal Finance systems) from technical infrastructure perspective.  The incumbent develops group-wide Bloomberg governance and workflow framework and processes as well as ensures Bloomberg is fully optimized and standardized in both Investment Operations and Investment Accounting processes whilst supporting day-to-day investment operations and accounting activities.  
• Contribute to the expansion of the ICOE and Group to the LBUs.

KEY ACCOUNTAIBILITIES

Bloomberg & Clearwater Technical System Subject Matter Expert

• Serve as the key appointed person to liaise with Bloomberg & Clearwater on all system infrastructure related matters
• Establish, drive and execute the continuous improvement opportunities and plan for better group-wide operations efficiency, accuracy, and quality of data
• Responsible to ensure all trades are recorded in Bloomberg and Clearwater on a timely basis (i.e. T+1)
• Act as the technical expert with ability to troubleshoot and reconfigure the systems usability as well as provide expertise advice for inbound/ outbound system interfaces
• Lead and drive internal and external systems integration and migration for markets. 
• Managing external vendors & partners
• Perform quality control to ensure data quality and accuracy
• Participate in UAT and ad hoc projects; provide expert level resolution on issues till completion and explain to markets on the processes by showing how and why of the suggested solutions

Data Management

• Establish and manage a group-wide ISDA & CSA repository and ensure group-wide governance processes and adhered to.
• Ensure standards for Bloomberg setups are adhered to and managed appropriately (i.e. portfolios, securities, transactions, etc).
• Lead, drive and ensure data standardization, centralization and harmonization across all internal and external relevant systems and between group and markets. 
• Update and maintain BBG data standardization across external asset management and BU
• Ensure Clearwater database enter by BU aligned with GO standard and maintain the data consistency

Investment Operations & Accounting

• Act as second approval/backup approval for investment operations & accounting daily activities
• Set-up and maintenance of core investment operations & accounting systems infrastructure
• Regularly review the workflows for SOPs update; suggest and implement process improvements and utilize technology to improve operation workflow efficiency
• Ensure Operational standards are adhered to and any exception processes are fully documented and approved.
• Participate in new product approval process by analyzing the impact on trade booking, settlement, end-of-day process, regulatory reporting, etc.
• Planning, implementation, overseeing and leading business projects related to securities middle and back-office operation
• Serving as a technical business analyst to evaluate business requirement/ analyze problematic situations and provide suggestions/ solutions accordingly to ensure company growth.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

• Trades are recorded in Bloomberg / Clearwater at 95% on T+1
• Ability to communicate clearly and resolve various technical issues
• Handling and resolving complex issues and ad-hoc requests related to technology
• Lead investment projects to successful completion

EXTERNAL & INTERNAL CONTACTS

Internal:

• Group Investment Operations Team
• Local offices’ Investment Operations team
• Group Investments
• ICOE Investment Operations

External:

• Asset Managers
• Bloomberg
• Custodians
• Brokers
• Collateral manager
• Clearwater
• Asset Management companies/ partners

DECISION MAKING

• Recommend implementation of Bloomberg modules module to streamline investment operations/accounting
• Able to provide suggestions to enhance Clearwater automation report for Investment Accounting related topics.

QUALIFICATIONS / EXPERIENCE

• University degree in Accounting/Business/Finance/Mathematic or related fields.
• 10+ years of experience working in middle office operations, collateral support, trading processing, project management office

KNOWLEDGE & TECHNICAL SKILLS

Business Knowledge

• Solid knowledge of financial products
• Advanced knowledge in Bloomberg AIM is required.
• Knowledge of Private Equity and Alternative Credit products is an asset

Technical Skills

• In-depth experience with investment systems such as Bloomberg, Aladdin, Reuters, IDC or any other market data providers.
• Investment Accounting Systems (PAM, FAM, Portia, Clearwater, etc) is an asset
• Alteryx VBA, Macro, SQL
• Microsoft Office

Management Skills

• Experience in leading small teams in an Investment Operations environment is preferred.
• Clarity in communication and being an active listener.
• Being empathic with a desire to help others.

COMPETENCIES

• Able to work independently or as part of a team.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Good command of both spoken and written English
• Understanding inter-dependencies and inter-connections of systems; seeing the big picture rather than the parts.
• Being flexible and adaptable for change.
• Learning from mistakes and desire to improve.