Legal Counsel, ILS & Asset Management

Would you like to join one of the largest reinsurance groups in the world?  Are you interested in topics like asset management and insurance-linked securities (ILS)? Then we might have the right opportunity for you!  

About the Role

In your role you will:

• Provide legal advice and transactional support in relation to the investment fund management and capital markets activities of the ILS business teams within the Alternative Capital Partners (ACP) division of Swiss Re.  These activities include the management, structuring and placement of alternative investment and UCITS funds and fund interests in the ILS asset class; and the provision of structuring and placement services to clients looking to utilize capital markets to transfer risk in the form of catastrophe bonds and ILS products.  Legal support will span across drafting, negotiation and execution of specific transactions; assisting on new projects; to advising on placement of transactions and formation of investment funds.

• Provide additional legal support to colleagues working on proprietary investment activities of the Swiss Re Group across a range of asset classes, including derivatives, direct lending, real estate, private equity, fixed income and publicly traded securities.

• Analyze and advise on legal and regulatory risks as they apply to the ACP business activities, with a focus on investment manager and capital markets/broker-dealer laws and regulation

• Assist with corporate governance of legal entities under the ACP umbrella.

• Facilitate coordination and escalation of legal and regulatory issues among legal entity, ACP business team, CCGF Legal, including in particular Lead ACP Legal, the wider legal & compliance division, risk management and other colleagues across Swiss Re's office hubs around the world

• Monitor legal and regulatory trends affecting investment managers, investment firms/broker-dealers, capital markets and advising collaboratively with Compliance colleagues in relation to preparation of regulatory reports, responses to inquiries and other regulatory matters

• Foster and maintain positive working relationships with clients, colleagues and outside law firms

• Provide legal support for new product development in the ILS and alternative risk transfer areas

• Support internal group projects and strategic initiatives

• Conduct and/or arrange internal presentations and trainings on legal topics

About the Team

This is an exciting opportunity to join a global team that provides legal support to Swiss Re's Alternative Capital Partners (ACP) division.  Swiss Re has been a leader in Insurance-Linked Securities (ILS) since the market's inception in 1997, committed to the development of a market for liquid, transparent and tradable insurance-linked risk products, and leveraging our reinsurance and capital markets experience.
ACP combines the resources and capabilities of the Swiss Re Capital Markets ILS team and our investment management teams into a unified center of expertise that seamlessly offers our partners, and Swiss Re itself, comprehensive alternative capital solutions tailored to their unique objectives. ACP also works very closely with our Portfolio Strategy & Steering team in connection with retrocession to the capital markets.  Through its broker-dealer subsidiaries, the Swiss Re Capital Markets ILS team provides structuring and placement services to clients looking to utilize the capital markets to transfer their risk in the form of catastrophe bonds and related products. Our clients, including (re)insurers, governments, corporations, and Swiss Re itself are provided with expertise in both the property & casualty and life & health risk markets, as well as emerging risk pools such as cyber. We work with investors who are interested in participating directly in the cat bond market, as well as providing secondary market trading, weekly and monthly indicative pricing and performance indices as part of our commitment to the market. 

About You

Qualification and Experience:

• A law degree and English or New York qualifications, with a minimum of four years' experience, in either asset management or capital markets and/or related transactions or regulation, with a law firm or international financial institution
• Experience and understanding of MiFID and/or AIFMD, or the U.S. Investment Advisers Act, depending on the particular candidate's background.  Understanding of securities law and regulation in cross-border scenarios.  Background in re/insurance business would be helpful, but not necessary. Experience with UCITS and with derivatives is a plus.
• Demonstrable expertise in managing legal aspects that affect complex, multi-jurisdictional transactions, including transactional experience in negotiating, structuring and executing complex transactions
• Understanding of corporate, regulatory, and compliance landscape and their impact on ACP and Swiss Re Group

• Understanding of the role of the legal & compliance team as control and challenge function and participation in risk management
• Ability to identify relevant issues, taking initiative in achieving resolution, using a collaborative approach, and understanding of technical and compliance matters that require escalation or greater oversight
• Effective organizational, multi tasking, and prioritizing skills to handle multiple requests and deadlines
• Ability to understand and operate successfully in a complex matrixed corporate environment
• Corporate governance experience is a plus

Personal skills:

• You identify and report legal risks, provide professional advice, expertise and guidance, and apply sound judgement beyond the dimensions of laws and regulations
• You are a trusted business partner, who manages relationships and communicates legal concepts clearly and succinctly
• You possess excellent drafting, negotiation, influencing and legal project management skills
• You openly share assumptions, beliefs, values and thought process in reaching conclusions and are receptive to constructive challenge, willing to learn, self-reflective, and collaborative
• You take accountability for progress and/or outcomes, apply a measured appetite for risk, and plan ahead to deliver workable solutions

Our company has a hybrid work model where the expectation is that you will be in the office at least three days per week

The base salary range for this position is between £94,000 and £140,000 (for a full-time role). The specific salary offered considers: 
•  the requirements, scope, complexity and responsibilities of the role,
•  the applicant's own profile including education/qualifications, expertise, specialisation, skills and experience.

In addition to your base salary, Swiss Re offers an attractive performance-based variable compensation component, designed to recognise your achievements. Further you will enjoy a variety of global and location specific benefits.
Eligibility may vary depending on the terms of Swiss Re policies and your employment contract.

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