Senior Legal Counsel, Financial Crime

• Exciting opportunity to contribute to shaping the foundations of new legal frameworks.
• Take ownership of complex advice relating to AML/CTF, sanctions and anti-bribery and corruption (AB&C) legislation, policy and programs.
• Be part of a supportive, engaged and dynamic team within Group Legal with access to advanced systems and AI tools.

See yourself in our team:

Group Services Legal works with the Commonwealth Bank's business units and their support functions to help achieve their strategic goals and priorities through the provision of expert, commercially focused legal advice.  

The Financial Crime Legal team provides legal advice on the Group's compliance with AML/CTF, sanctions and AB&C legislation. Recognising the central importance of the dedicated financial crime related advice provided by this team, we are expanding to create a new Senior Legal Counsel role. Working closely with colleagues across Group Legal, including Disputes Legal and Customer Services Legal, this role will advise Financial Crime Compliance and other business units/support units on matters relating to customers, governance, policy, product design and regulatory engagement.

Do work that matters:

The role is responsible for advising on matters relating to the Group's compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth) and related rules as well as advising on matters involving sanctions compliance and AB&C.  Key responsibilities of the role include:

• Key external relationships include representatives from key regulators including AUSTRAC and external law firms.
• Key internal relationships include senior executives across the Group, senior representatives from business units and support units in Australia and overseas including Financial Crime Compliance and Line 1 risk and operational teams, Group Customer Relations and colleagues within Group Legal.
• Working as a senior member of the Group Services Legal team identifying legal risks, advising on and taking carriage of advisory matters in this area and managing engagement of external legal advisors (as required).
• Advise on and keep up to date on regulatory changes in the AML/CTF, sanctions and AB&C space, and closely support the Group's implementation of law reforms.
• Build strong relationships with stakeholders across the business units, support units and Group Legal, to ensure engagement in key matters and to enable robust legal support on key issues.
• Lead effective and thoughtful engagement with stakeholders across the Group on significant AML/CTF, sanctions and AB&C matters and assist the Executive General Manager Group Services Legal and Managing Counsel Financial Crime Legal to provide proactive insights and observations arising from AML/CTF, sanctions and AB&C related matters. Prepare and review materials for CBA governance committees.

We're interested in hearing from people who have:

• Relevant legal qualifications e.g. Bachelor of Laws.
• Current NSW practising certificate.
• Proven experience in providing legal advice on financial services regulation.
• Experience with AML/CTF, sanctions and/or AB&C expertise is highly regarded, however not mandatory.
• Relevant private practice or regulatory experience is highly regarded.
• The ability to work autonomously and exercise good judgement.

Working at CommBank

At CommBank, we support our people with the flexibility to balance where work is done with at least half their time each month connecting in office. We also have many other flexible working options available including changing start and finish times, part-time arrangements and job share to name a few. Talk to us about how these arrangements might work in the role you're interested in.

If you're already part of the Commonwealth Bank Group (including Bankwest, x15ventures), you'll need to apply through Sidekick to submit a valid application. We're keen to support you with the next step in your career.

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