Mandate:

The Client Onboarding (COB) team acts as the central coordination point between clients, Capital Markets Front Office, and multiple internal partner teams to ensure client relationships are established efficiently, compliantly, while delivering the highest standard of service and excellent client experience. Operating within a centralized onboarding model, COB partners closely with other support functions to capture onboarding requirements, manage regulatory and operational dependencies, and enable timely product and account activation to support revenue generation.

The Associate will represent the COB function for Asia‑focused clients. The role serves as a single point of contact for the onboarding journey, supporting escalation management, discussions relating to KYC requirements and regulatory onboarding matters, and cross‑functional coordination. The team’s primary responsibilities are to proactively source and collate information and documentation to expedite the completion of internal and regulatory due diligence processes.

Accountabilities:

Coordinate and facilitate new client requests across Capital Markets; provide a centralized point of contact in the end-to-end client onboarding process and data collection for the clients and Line of Business.
Partner with internal stakeholders (Legal, Credit, Compliance, KYC & AML, Tax, Central New Accounts, Operations, Technology) across both local and global teams to drive timely completion of onboarding.
Enhance the client experience upon entering a relationship with the bank by improving process efficiency, transparency and communication.
Steward client onboarding process from the initiation of the request to the final completion of the account opening, ensuring the appropriate level of information sharing, priority placement and collaboration is followed by all partner groups involved in the process.
Support KYC requirements, undertake analysis and quality assurance of client profiles.
Provide guidance to Line of Business and support areas for resolving client or specific market segment/ regulatory onboarding issues and challenges.
Ensure all clients are completely set up to trade from both a regulatory standpoint as well as to meet all internal requirements.
Assist both Line of Business and Clients with the regulatory adherence process including, but not limited to: Dodd-Frank, MiFID II, EMIR, JFSA, HKPI, SGII/AI, FATCA, CRS, and other applicable jurisdictional requirements.
Produce weekly and monthly onboarding status reporting for internal stakeholders and management.
Notify internal teams of new client setups and all relevant onboarding outcomes – creating a seamless hand-off to downstream teams.
Participate in and support process improvement and technology initiatives aimed at streamlining the front‑to‑back onboarding process.

The scope of this role may evolve over time as the business mix and structure of team changes and grows.

Knowledge and Skills:

5+ years of relevant experience with renowned international financial institutions in Client Onboarding, Compliance/AML or Front Office role in Investment Banking or Capital Markets.
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Finance, International Business, or Business Law, or a related discipline.
Solid hands‑on experience with client onboarding, KYC, AML and remediation work in key US, EMEA and APAC jurisdictions.
Advance knowledge of Capital Markets products, including fixed income, foreign exchange, equities, commodities, securitized products and trade finance is a must.
Working knowledge of the institutional banking landscape, competitive marketplace, market trends and regulations in the banking industry.
Exposure to risk management principles with proven experience of supporting the development of business activities.
Knowledge of regulation frameworks (Dodd-Frank, EMIR, SFTR, jurisdictional OTC Derivatives Reporting etc.), Investor Protection regulations (MiFID II, SFC, HKMA, MAS, ASIC, JFSA etc.) and Tax regulations (FATCA, CRS, 871m) is highly advantageous.
Knowledge of international master legal agreements covering OTC derivatives, repo, securitized products, listed derivatives and equities.
Familiarity with major trading and booking systems such as Calypso, WSS, Murex, TOMS and ICI.
Proven ability to conceptualize business and stakeholder initiatives and to guide those initiatives as daily business requirements for the group.
Exceptional relationship management, interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across Line of Business and support functions, and comfortable working in a diverse, cross‑regional environment.
Demonstrated ability to work independently with limited supervision, manage multiple priorities and proactively service internal Clients in a fast-paced environment and a demanding schedule.
Self‑starter with strong attention to detail, able to learn quickly, adapt to change, and identify gaps, risks, and dependencies early.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with confidence engaging stakeholders at all levels of the organization.
Strong organizational, analytical, problem‑solving, and conflict‑resolution skills; collaborative and team‑oriented.
Good command of spoken and written English and Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese, simplified and traditional Chinese). Japanese language capability is an advantage.
Proficient in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, PowerBI), and other IT solutions or workflow tools.

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Associate, Client Onboarding

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