VP - Head Central Approval Team

Job Title: VP - Head Central Approval Team - Wealth

The Central Approvals Team (CAT) is a 1LoD global SME team responsible for managing the review and approval of Financial Promotions across Asset Management (AM) entities. The CAT Team ensures that all marketing materials shared with our clients and distribution partners meet the requisite regulatory requirements and meet Global Compliance Standards prescribed by HSBC. CAT team oversees the whole process, from compliance review to approval, record-keeping, and monitoring of financial promotion content across all markets and teams. It also aims to drive quicker and more efficient go-to-market for financial promotion content leading to growth in sales engagement opportunities, whilst ensuring adherence to all local regulatory requirements. This role is part of the HSBC Asset Management Client Business, CoE function and works closely with all other functions within the business which are involved in financial promotions management cycle to mitigate regulatory and operational risk.

As Head of the Central Approvals Team (CAT), you will lead a global team of professionals, overseeing the end-to-end review and approval of financial promotion content across multiple countries for HSBC Asset Management. You will ensure regulatory compliance, operational effectiveness, and continuous improvement, while driving a robust operating model that enables clear, efficient collaboration among stakeholders. You will also be the named control owner for this process.

To succeed, you must be a subject matter expert in financial promotion regulations, an experienced leader of large, diverse teams, and adept at managing senior stakeholders. Strong negotiation, risk management, and internal control skills—paired with deep industry knowledge of asset management products are essential. Proven ability to influence, collaborate, and navigate complex B2B and B2B2C environments will set you apart in this role. Proven track record of delivering end-to-end automation of compliance led review and approval workflows, with strong technology fluency and a clear vision to simplify processes, reduce turnaround times, and strengthen audit ready governance.

In this role, you will:

Strategic Leadership & Team Management

• Lead, inspire, and develop a diverse team across multiple geographies, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous learning.
• Oversee people management activities including hiring, performance management, goal setting, and professional development for all team members (GCB 5, 6, 7, and Interns).

Global Review & Approval Process

• Own and control the review and approval process for the complete life-cycle of all financial promotion content across HSBC Asset Management, including self-compliance and Regulatory Compliance (RC) approval coordination at the Point of Manufacture (POM) and Point of Distribution (POD).
• Guide and coach the team in the review and approval process to ensure all content is clear, compliant with regulatory requirements, and aligned with internal policies.
• Maintain a full library of disclaimers/disclosures for all markets and investment strategies,and ensure all compliance checklists and training frameworks are up to date.

Governance, Risk & Compliance

• Lead and manage the ‘CAT review and approval Global Control’ as the named global control owner, ensuring all accountabilities are met in line with the HSBC Control Management Framework.
• Conduct regular audits and quarterly quality checks of financial promotions to identify areas for improvement and ensure ongoing compliance.
• Develop and manage ongoing compliance training and testing for all content owners, marketing, client business, and CAT colleagues in agreement with RC.
• Work with the RC team on impact assessments of regulatory changes and implement updates to all relevant frameworks and libraries.

  Management of Risk

• Adhere to processes and controls to identify and mitigate risks, ensuring timely escalation of control issues and reputational risks.
• Demonstrate leadership on regulatory and compliance matters, maintaining awareness of risk and minimizing its likelihood through identification, assessment, mitigation, and control.
• Manage operational losses and adverse consequences arising from regulatory compliance breaches/issues, ensuring lessons are learned and shared across the control environment.

Internal Controls

• Maintain HSBC internal control standards, addressing audit points and regulatory issues promptly and fostering a compliance culture within the team.
• Ensure all material breaches are logged by self and team within required timescales, providing timely updates and adhering to the Risk Acceptance process as per DIM requirements.
• Optimize relations with regulators and ensure all standards, policies, and procedures meet regulatory needs and are clearly understood by stakeholders.

Knowledge of Asset Management Products

• Support content creators and stakeholders in ensuring business deliverables are met while minimizing risk, leveraging deep understanding of both traditional and alternative asset classes, including ESG principles.
• Advise team members on requirements, regulatory interpretation, and processes related to asset management content.
• Coordinate with Investment and Marketing leads to ensure alignment on product-specific disclosures, compliance, and promotional activities.

Stakeholder Engagement and Communication

• Coordinate closely with Global and Country RC, Investment, and Marketing leads to ensure seamless workflow and prioritization.
• Prepare and share quarterly service MI with serviced entities and respond to ad-hoc requests from stakeholders.
• Attend and contribute to global governance forums, including CAT Monthly Working Group calls, CAT SteerCo, Regional Governance meetings and IWPB AirCo meetings.

Continuous Improvement & Change Management

• Lead automation of financial promotions reviews and approval workflows by leveraging advanced technology, workflow and design tools, and data analytics (e.g., Power BI, Tableau).
• Design and implement scalable control frameworks that integrate global compliance checklists and AI assisted content surveillance to proactively identify and mitigate regulatory risks.
• Drive significant reductions in turnaround times and manual dependency, while enhancing auditability, accuracy, and regulatory compliant governance controls.
• Lead remediation and reassessment of controls, including training and upskilling of team members as needed.
• Drive a culture of compliance, operational excellence, and customer focus throughout the team.

Observation of Internal Controls

• Maintains HSBC internal control standards and addresses audit points and/or any issues raised by regulators in a timely manner.
• Fosters a compliance culture within the team, managing compliance risk and ensuring that the necessary training is completed. Optimizes relations with regulators.

Leadership & Teamwork 

HSBC Asset management (AM) group has a strong heritage and has been in financial markets for 150+ years. The global service center (GSC) in Bangalore has served as a Capability Center of Excellence for various businesses of HSBC, including the asset management group, and currently enjoys the distinction of being the only service center for the AM business. AM Client Business plays a very important role in servicing our growing business across Institutional and Wholesale clients, striving towards achieving client centricity across all stages of a client life cycle.

To be successful you will:

• In-depth expertise in asset management compliance, with a focus on financial promotions and the regulatory frameworks governing global markets.
• Demonstrated ability to interpret, apply, and operationalise complex regulatory requirements to financial promotion content, ensuring robust governance and risk mitigation.
• Experience working with Regulatory Compliance professionals and responding to inquiries and supporting audits reviews.
• Deep understanding of asset management, including a strong knowledge of asset classes (e.g., equities, fixed income, alternatives) and their unique compliance considerations.
• Strong attention to detail and capacity to analyse complex information, identifying emerging risks and opportunities for process improvement.
• Advanced analytical and critical reasoning abilities, with a proven track record of leveraging data driven insights to optimise processes and decision making.
• Mindset focused on risk awareness, continuous improvement, and operational excellence, with a passion for driving automation and efficiency in compliance processes.

Others:

• Master’s degree in finance, business, law, or a related field. CFA and/or FRM is an advantage.
• Proven success in leading and developing high performing, cross-functional teams within regulated financial services, ideally in asset management.
• Strong expertise in regulatory compliance, risk management, and control frameworks.
• Skilled in managing complex, multi-jurisdictional review and approval processes, with a focus on automation, and workflow optimisation.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement, communication, and influencing skills, with the ability to drive collaboration across business, compliance, and technology teams.
• Track record of people leadership, including recruitment, coaching, performance development, and fostering a culture of accountability and innovation.
• Analytical mindset with a drive for operational efficiency and continuous improvement.

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