The new NCBA has harnessed the power of both NIC and CBA to create a bank that brings together the best of both worlds from cutting edge mobile banking to good old-fashioned relationship management; from scalable business banking to financial services that grow as your business does; from best-in-class choice of products to investment solutions tailored to your specific needs.

JOB PURPOSE STATEMENT

The primary purpose of the Legal and Governance Counsel is to identify and address governance and legal issues impacting Loop DFS Limited and its subsidiaries. This role involves offering practical solutions and implementing effective mitigation plans.

The Legal and Governance Counsel will report to the Head of Legal, Compliance, and Regulatory. Additionally, this role will include providing company secretarial services for Loop DFS and its subsidiaries.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES)

Financial (5%)

• Support the Head of Legal in management of unit costs within the approved budget.
• Negotiate with external advocates before engagement to ensure that the legal fees billed is minimized and below budget.
• Ensure contracts are well drafted to minimize legal risks that might result to financial loss.

Internal Business Processes

• Corporate Secretarial and Governance Advisory (25%)
  • Creation and regular review of the Companies Constitutive document and Corporate Governance documentation including Board Charters, Board Codes of Conduct and Terms of Reference for different Board Committees;
  • Assisting the Head of Legal to undertake Company Secretarial work including attending Board of Directors meetings and/or Board Committee meetings, writing of minutes and preparation of Board papers.
  • Providing legal advisory services to the Board and guiding the board in ensuring implementation of the Companies Constitutive documents;
  • Liaising with external advocates to receive legal opinions as sought by the Board, filing of various resolutions at the Companies Registry, Corporate Restructuring among others.
  • Liaising with external independent companies to carry out independent Corporate Governance Audit and Legal Audits.
  • Assisting the Head of Legal to facilitate board induction, board assessment and evaluation.
  • Periodically updating the Board, the management team and the other business units on new regulations that have an impact on the business.
  • Assist the Head of Legal in ensuring that budgeting for the Legal Department is done concisely and the budget is cost effective.
• Environmental, Social and Governance) Strategy and Compliance Framework (10%)
  • Preparation and periodic review of the ESG Framework of the Company and its subsidiaries.
  • Assisting different department’s i.e the Risk department to identify, assess and manage risks that emanate from social and environmental issues and providing legal support to ensure compliance.
  • Assisting the Head of legal on preparation of legal opinions, briefs and memos relating to ESG Compliance to the Management and/the Board.
• Contracting and Review of Legal documents for business support units (20%)
  • Supporting business units during contracting by preparing and/reviewing contracts, negotiating the terms with the Vendors, identifying the legal risks and incorporating suitable provisions to mitigate legal risk.
  • Proposing new and innovative ideas that ensure that contract management and the quality of the contracts entered into by the Company and its subsidiaries are of the highest standards.
  • Preparation and adherence to a contract drafting and review checklist and a contract management system – where practical, ensuring creation and ensuring adherence to approved standard templates for contracts and customer documentation.
• Legal Advisory and legal awareness (15%)
  • Assisting the Head of Legal in the preparation of legal opinions as may be requested by management, business units and/or the Board of directors of the Company.
  • Providing concise, responsive and practical legal opinions and legal solutions of the queries raised by the business and support units for both self and direct reports.
  • Timely review and dissemination of information and market/practice trends useful in management of legal Risk to different business units.
• Legal Management (15%)
  • Assisting the Head of Legal to supervise, monitor and ensure the legal risk policy is complied with and encourage the optimum performance of the department to ensure TATs are adhered to by the department in order to protect the Company’s interests.
  • Assisting the Head of Legal to provide continuous leadership, supervision, training and development of the internal legal team.
  • Management of the Company’s relationships with providers of external legal services to ensure value maximization for the Company.
  • Mitigate on legal costs, ensuring speedy conclusion of legal tasks outsourced to external advocates.
  • Ensure all invoices of fees are negotiated and settled in a timely manner but also in the most cost-effective way.
• Customer Experience (5%)
  • Ensuring service delivery as per the set Service Level Agreements with the various departments/Customers (meeting TAT and quality standards); and
  • Assisting the Head of Legal with management and liaison with various stakeholders and customers including regulators, partners and service providers.
• Learning & Growth (5%)
  • Ensure that you achieve at least 40 hours of learning/training for both self and direct report through E-learning, Internal & External training activities.
  • Ensure attendance of Continuing Professional Development Courses with the LSK and meet the required points for the following year’s practicing requirements.

JOB SPECIFICATIONS

Academic:

• A Bachelor’s Degree Law (LLB) from an accredited institution;
• Admission as an advocate of the High Court of Kenya (5 years post admission);
• A Certified Company Secretary with the Institute of Certified Public Secretaries (will be an added advantage);
• A Certificate on ESG reporting (will be an added advantage); and
• A Masters in Law or a finance will be an added advantage.

Desired work experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of relevant working experience, including work experience in a commercial, financial, or legal advisory institution and/or fintech body.
• Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and a Certified Company Secretary.

JOB COMPETENCIES

Technical Competencies

• Legal Knowledge and Fintech experience – Must possess legal knowledge and have excellent contract negotiation skills.
• Contract negotiation and drafting experience – Must be able to conceptualize issues and analyze proposals to great detail to understand underlying issues.
• Company secretarial & governance – Must understand local and global dynamics of the business environments facing customers.
• Conceptual and Analytical Skills – An in-depth understanding of the laws and regulations relating to fintech technology, data protection and licensing requirements.
• Knowledge of Business Environment – Keeps abreast of available technology; understands applicability and limitations of technology to the work of the office; actively seeks Computer literate with proficiency in MS office.
• Planning and Organizing – Experience in structuring and executing a wide variety of business ventures and projects

Behavioural Competencies

• Excellent planning and organizational skills with ability to breakdown complex items to actionable elements.
• Relate easily and naturally with executives, business managers, technical teams and customers. Has excellent listening skills and understands the desires and challenges of all our leaders and customers.
• Leadership Skills: Team Building and ability to train, develop and mentor staff; Presents new challenges and opportunities to the team to enable them to demonstrate and achieve their full potential; encourages and inspires team learning
• Negotiation Skills: Must be a good negotiator, particularly in changing behavior and work practices but always Win/Win
• Innovative – Creative and adaptive to change. A team player who is supportive of other’s ideas and innovations, collaborates in a culture of knowledge-sharing and team learning to strengthen the organization’s work
• Reliable: Ability to take responsibility and exercise it well. A flexible and “hands on” approach
• Possess broad knowledge of business and has an interest in market trends. Have intricate knowledge of our business: its vision, mission, strategy, values and how it operates.
• Clearly communicate and share the planned cyber initiatives, reports, and risks with executives, business leaders, and stakeholders across the organization – in a manner that leaves them all touched, moved and inspired.
• Self-motivated and self-managing.
• Demonstrate a keen understanding of basic business operations and the organizational levers that drive profitable growth; Understands the operating environment, the customers, competition and how their strategies and tactics work in the marketplace; applies knowledge to develop and execute strategies and tactics to drive business results