Legal Counsel (8-month Contract)

Our client is a leading listed banking and financial services group in Hong Kong, offering a comprehensive range of banking, investment, wealth management, and insurance solutions to both individual and corporate clients across the Greater China region.

We are currently assisting them in their search for an 8-month Contract Legal Counsel. In this role, you will play a key part in supporting the operations of both listed and unlisted funds, advising on regulatory developments, and ensuring compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and internal policies.

Position Overview

The candidate must understand the ETF/asset management ecosystem and possess extensive experience in navigating complex legal environment, particularly in the Hong Kong ETF/asset management space. The candidate should be able to draft and review fund documents and other commercial documents as well as conducting legal research on local and laws of other jurisdictions.

Position Responsibilities

• Provide legal advice in relation to SFC Type 1,4,6 and 9 businesses.
• Support on a full range of legal services in relations to various investment products, particularly ETFs as well as SFC authorized funds and discretionary investment mandates.
• Draft and review commercial documents and legal documents including fund offering documents and related agreements (participating dealer agreements, distribution agreement, investment advisory agreement, investment management agreement, rebate agreements, securities lending agreement etc.).
• Provide timely and sound legal advice to different business lines on legal related issues with regards to launch of new products and business initiatives.
• Advice on legal structure of various products, including but not limited to ETFs, unlisted funds and cross border collaboration.
• Strong technical legal skills and in-depth knowledge of product codes and other relevant regulations.
• Solid judgment and ability to evaluate risk in a commercially focused way.
• Demonstrable ability to analyse the legal implications of business proposals with relatively little supervision, including problem-solving ability.

Position Requirements

• Qualified lawyer of 6+ years PQE in private practice will be considered, it is expected that a successful candidate will have specialised in the handling of public funds in Hong Kong (both ETFs and unlisted) as well as extensive regulatory knowledge of applicable rules and regulations.
• Experience in advising international and local asset managers on the following matters: fund establishment, ETF establishment and listing, fund merger, fund termination, fund deauthorization, fund EGM, trust, custody, cross border marketing, and business conduct.
• Extensive knowledge with The Hong Kong Securities & Futures Ordinance, subsidiary legislations, regulations, codes and circulars, including specifically the SFC's Code on Unit Trusts and Mutual Funds, SFC's Code of Conduct, SFC's Fund Manager Code of Conduct, Company Ordinance and other statutory and regulatory requirements applicable to a Hong Kong asset manager.
• Extensive experience and specialization in dealing with SFC investment products, licensing and intermediaries teams, including specifically in applications, notifications and reporting to the SFC investment products team and licensing team.
• Ability to work under pressure with tight deadline.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills and writing skills in both English and Chinese (Cantonese/ Mandarin).
• Strength in handling multiple matters concurrently and identifying the crux of the issue quickly.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including ability to translate legal issues into easy to understand briefings.
• Demonstrably strong interpersonal skills including in particular team-working and influencing skills.
• Working experience in SFC Type 1,4,6 and 9 corporations is an advantage.

Interested individuals can apply now. Only relevant candidates will be contacted.