Senior Business Analyst

Join Columbia Threadneedle Investments, an Ameriprise Financial company, in this exciting new position. This role will work in close partnership with the EMEA Client Management team and other internal teams to ensure client-driven activities, processes and outcomes result in an excellent service and experience for our clients.

As part of the India-based Distribution Operations team, your primary responsibility will be to ensure we have sufficient information and controls relating to investors in and distributors of our EMEA-based products and strategies, to allow us properly to discharge both our fiduciary duties to our investor universe and our regulatory obligations such as Consumer Duty.

You will do this principally by sourcing, analyzing and maintaining relevant client information for operational and regulatory purposes, in many cases working directly with clients. In addition, you will work closely with various internal functions such as EMEA Client Management, Distribution & Branch Oversight, Financial Crime Prevention, Global Contract Office and others based both in India and in EMEA.

As part of this role, you will be expected to identify opportunities to improve these processes and work with internal teams to deliver these improvements.

Key Responsibilities

Onboarding, Implementation and Change

• Accurately establish whether new relationships should be treated as distributors.
• Work with Client Managers to obtain the right information from clients to satisfy initial Anti Money Laundering (AML) / Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements as effectively as possible.
• Escalate to Client Managers where necessary to ensure appropriate client engagement.
• Escalate to Financial Crime Prevention and / or Distribution & Branch Oversight as necessary to clarify AML/KYC / Distributor Due Diligence requirements and to identify potential alternative types of documentary evidence to meet requirements.
• Perform the necessary operational due diligence on prospective distributors to ensure they meet our requirements and enable us to comply with relevant regulations such as CSSF 18/698 and FCA Consumer Duty.
• Capture the necessary client classification information, such as risk rating and client type, in relevant internal and third party systems such as Salesforce to enable downstream processes to operate effectively and efficiently.
• Ensure documentation gathered from clients to support these assessments is properly stored and indexed in relevant internal and third party systems.

Ongoing Monitoring and Oversight

• Monitor for trigger events and notify relevant internal teams when a trigger event occurs (such as a change of ownership for a client legal entity).
• Ensure periodic operational due diligence and AML/KYC refreshes are carried out in a timely manner.
• Engage clients directly, escalating to Client Managers as necessary, to obtain the right information from clients to satisfy ongoing AML/KYC and Distributor due diligence requirements.
• Manage the exemptions, extensions and risk acceptance processes relating to the above, engaging and updating internal stakeholders and governance groups as necessary.
• Maintain and update Distribution Operations-owned data and records, ensuring accuracy and confidentiality.
• Monitor and track ongoing operations related to Distribution and Branch Oversight (including risk cycles).
• Participation in weekly team meetings, the quarterly Branch Oversight Committee and task planning.
• Provide support in relation to branch oversight activities such as requesting reports from branch managers and other teams, preparing the agenda and the pack for the branch oversight committee, writing minutes of the meetings and follow up on the action points.
• Support the coordination and review of FCA Consumer Duty and Target Market Information data by gathering relevant information and drafting reports for relevant committees/Boards.

Continuous improvement and controls

• Identify opportunities to improve processes owned by Distribution Operations, including automation, efficiency, scalability and risk reduction, and work with internal teams to deliver those improvements.
• Provide data analysis and insights as required to support relevant project initiatives, deliver periodic management information and enable continuous improvements.
• Manage and/or support processes related to Distribution Operations controls and governance, such as quality checks.
• Participate in training programs to continuously improve skills and knowledge related to the above areas and the industry. 

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in in Finance, Business Management or equivalent.
• 3 to 5 years of relevant experience.
• Strong verbal English language proficiency.
• Strong ability to work with others in the team and across the business to achieve effective solutions and decisions.
• Excellent listening skills and assertive, empathetic approach to dealing with stakeholders within the business.
• Good self-organizational and time management skills; ability to work under pressure to short deadlines.
• Drive and enthusiasm to achieve a first-class Distribution Operations function.
• Ability to make clear decisions and exercise sound judgement.
• Strong customer service skills.
• The ability to multi-task in usage of different applications and tools including Salesforce, Excel, Teams, Outlook, among others.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong collaborative and team-working skills.
• The ability to effectively liaise with stakeholders across the business as required to resolve requests/issues in a timely manner.
• Strong attention to detail, ensuring full record keeping, notification, escalation, tracking and follow up of all incidents.
• Excellent listening skills and assertive, empathetic approach to dealing with stakeholders within the business.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Asset Management and cross-border fund distribution.
• An understanding of fund management, fund distribution chains, contractual arrangements and operational challenges.
• An understanding of AML / KYC and Distributor due diligence requirements.
• Experience of data analysis and insights with complex data sets.
• Experience of process improvement and automation. 

About Our Company
Ameriprise India LLP has been providing client based financial solutions to help clients plan and achieve their financial objectives for 125 years. We are a U.S. based financial planning company headquartered in Minneapolis with a global presence. The firm’s focus areas include Asset Management and Advice, Retirement Planning and Insurance Protection. Be part of an inclusive, collaborative culture that rewards you for your contributions and work with other talented individuals who share your passion for doing great work. You’ll also have plenty of opportunities to make your mark at the office and a difference in your community. So if you're talented, driven and want to work for a strong ethical company that cares, take the next step and create a career at Ameriprise India LLP.

Ameriprise India LLP is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, genetic information, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran status, marital status, family status or any other basis prohibited by law.

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