General Counsel - FnServices

Introduction

Here at Fnality International, we are powering the future of finance, together: combining best in class technology with free–flowing creativity, and expertise that will make payments better for everyone. There are no precedents for what we're doing. With you on our side, we'll be setting new ones every day.

In a complex world, we are here to bring clarity and make positive change. Fnality Services is central to each FnPS's effective and resilient operation and provides an efficient common service platform for the secure global delivery of settlement operations.

Working at Fnality:

Be your best: We have a supportive culture that helps to bring the best out of each and every single one of our employees. We work as a fully Agile company: everyone is part of a multi–disciplined outcome–driven team.

Feel free to explore: Bring your new ideas and help us to solve problems together. By joining a community of experts, you will get opportunities that do not exist elsewhere, as well as learn a wide range of different skills than you would learn only after many years in the usual financial circles. We place a big emphasis on fostering individual freedom and creativity in the workplace, so feel free to explore new directions and specialisms.

Be part of something bigger: We will support you by fostering an open, honest culture, that embraces diversity practices, inclusivity and enables wellbeing. Feel part of something bigger while being yourself.

Feel empowered: We want you to feel empowered. The nature of our business can help make this a reality. We have the stability and experience of a large financial company, so you will have plenty of momentum behind you. We also have the agility, speed and innovation of a start–up, so if you are willing to be flexible, the future is limitless.

The Role:

• Lead and drive all legal activity relating to Fnality Services.
• Advise and guide Directors, Board Members and Senior Management.
• Develop long–term strategies with senior management to achieve the company's objectives within defensible legal and regulatory risk profile, analyzing and presenting solutions to a wide range of legal and regulatory issues, with focus on one or more of the following areas: financial regulation, strategic transactions, commercialization of Fnality's products/services, intellectual property, data privacy.
• Drive development of cross–border PVP from a legal point of view.
• Own and drive all governance related activities, specifically relating to the Board and Board committees.
• Prepare written memoranda, contracts and explanatory/policy documents, drawing upon your skills and experience, as well as the breadth of expertise in our cross–functional organizational structure (i.e. technology and operations, strategy/finance, business development, people and talent).
• Where relevant, oversee the protection of the company's intellectual property assets, and maintenance of licensing arrangements to enable commercialization of the company's products.
• Prepare for and attend meetings with central banks, regulators, business partners, and other external stakeholders.
• Draft, review and negotiate contracts with vendors, prospective clients/business partners, and other third parties.
• Collaborate with other members of our in–house legal team to deliver first–rate legal work, including with the involvement of our specialist external counsels across major global financial centres (e.g. London, New York, Frankfurt).
• Provide input on the development of legal risk related policies and controls, and promote awareness and understanding on these topics within the company (e.g. training).
• Assist the company to move into new markets in countries with different laws and regulations.
• Prepare documents, evidence, arguments and identifying legal precedents that can be used to justify the company's decisions or actions.
• Advise on the resolution of disputes involving the company (including with suppliers, customers, staff members, other third parties).
• Manage the delivery of specialist legal and regulatory advice to the company by external advisers (including in foreign jurisdictions).
• Keep the company informed and up to date on new laws and regulations that might be applicable to their business.

Required knowledge, skills and abilities:

• A minimum of 5–10 years professional work experience at a law firm or corporate in–house legal team, with particular focus on: (i) financial regulatory matters (non–contentious) for financial market infrastructures (FMI) or other financial institutions; and/or (ii) the commercialization of new wholesale payments initiatives (especially those based on blockchain/distributed ledger technology – ideal). Ideally, you are already admitted to legal practice in a common law jurisdiction.
• A genuine curiosity in how law, regulation and public policy intersect with emerging technologies, business strategy, and new business models in global financial markets.
• Experience of working in or strong desire to work in an innovative, disruptive, rapidly evolving business, where in–house lawyers contribute to the solving of novel and challenging business problems, rather than addressing discrete legal issues for "internal clients".
• Excellent communication (oral, written) skills, and strong inter–personal skills to work effectively in our highly collaborative, cross–functional environment.
• Ideally, evidence knowledge of one or more 'other' interconnecting SME legal topics: corporate, IP, technology, data privacy, employment law, dispute resolution, real estate, competition/antitrust law, corporate governance.
• Ideally, experience of managing external law firms to support an in–house legal team in achieving the best overall outcomes for the business.

To be successful you will need to be able to:

• Learn from and empower your teammates in delivering the best outcomes for Fnality.
• Understand and collaboratively contribute to delivering the organisation's business strategy, outcomes and success criteria.
• Adopt continuous improvement mindset, retrospect with the team to identify and action improvements to throughput and quality.
• Focus on quality and rapid ability to change, keeping the As–Is architecture current so that it remains an accurate picture of current state.
• Collaborate and communicate effectively throughout solution creation, ensuring that interrelated deliverables are effective and coordinated.

A bit more about us:

Digital transformation is changing our lives, work and businesses. While other sectors evolve however, financial markets remain slow, fragmented and siloed. What the world needs now is a future–facing financial system for the digital age.

At Fnality International, we have been speaking – and listening – to the real users of today's financial systems. From businesses to banks, there is a clear, collective ambition for simpler, faster, safer and more resilient wholesale payment infrastructure; one that can move and settle money quickly and efficiently, with minimized risk and much more transparency.

We operate on a remote first environment, however due to the responsibilities of this role there will be a requirement for you to attend our London office specifically for stakeholder derived meetings.

Fnality Global Payments:

We are building a new global network of wholesale payment systems that will enable tokenised, peer–to–peer markets.

Fnality Global Payments (FnGP) will comprise a series of national systems, each regulated in its home jurisdiction. We call each of these a Fnality Payment System (FnPS).

In each payment system, a Fnality settlement asset will act as the settlement/payment asset for any Payment (P), Delivery (v), Payment (DvP) or payment vs. payment (PvP) need.

FnGP are underpinned by Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). The nature of DLT is such that it enables FnGP to:

• Operate a true peer–to–peer market.
• Allow for immediate settlement.
• Interoperate across business platforms and jurisdictions.

The key benefits of the above are:

• Reduced counter–party and credit risk.
• Reduced operational risk.
• Efficient liquidity management.
• An ability to move resources from risk mitigation to business growth.

How will we use the information about you?

We will use your personal information to process your application, to enable us to assess your suitability for a role and for other legitimate business purposes such as improving our sites and talent management practices. We may share your data with third parties to achieve these purposes. We will not use or share your information for marketing purposes.

We will take appropriate security measures to safeguard your information in accordance with data protection legislation.

If you would like further information about how your information may be processed by us, please contact us at .

Please note we are not able to sponsor visas for this role, so applicants must already have the right to work in the UK or the USA.