Senior Financial Assistant

The World Bank Group (World Bank) is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. The World Bank works in more than 100 developing economies to improve living standards and fight poverty. The World Bank uses financial resources and extensive experience to help our client countries to reduce poverty, increase economic growth and improve the quality of life. The World Bank is owned by 189 member countries whose views and interests are represented by a Board of Governors and a Washington DC-based Board of Directors. More than 190 countries participate in at least one of the five World Bank Group (“WBG”) institutions, each of which specializes in different aspects of development: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA) (IBRD and IDA together also referred to as the “World Bank” or the “Bank”), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

Treasury is the Vice Presidency, reporting to the Managing Director and World Bank Group Chief Financial Officer, performing treasury functions for the IBRD and IDA and, to varying degrees, for other members of the World Bank Group and other public sector investors. Its activities are organized and grouped into the following departments: Capital Markets & Investment Management, Client Asset Management and Advisory, and Treasury Operations.

Treasury (TRE) has been a large and significant player in the international financial markets for over seventy years and has achieved a global reputation as a prudent and innovative borrower, investor and risk manager. Treasury is responsible for: (i) managing approximately $195 billion in assets for the World Bank and other official sector investors; (ii) leading IBRD’s and IDA’s triple-A rated financing programs in international and domestic bond and derivative markets; (iii) conducting asset and liability management for IBRD’s and IDA’s balance sheets; (iv) overseeing the development and outreach related to the financing and hedging products the Bank provides for its developing-country clients; and (v) collaborating with the World Bank member countries to help build their capacity. Staff in Treasury regularly interact and collaborate with other Departments across the Bank and Finance Partners’ teams.

The Treasury Operations Department (TREOP) provides a full range of operational support for the Treasury’s asset management, capital markets and banking businesses. The Department is presently organized into three operational units: Asset and Liability Operations (TREAL), Cash and Banking Operations (TREBK) and Quantitative Solutions and Analytics (TREQA), and a Financial Technology coordination unit (TREFT).

Duties and Accountabilities:

The TRE Operations Chennai (TRECH) is an integral part of TRE and is responsible for a variety of duties providing vital support across its operational divisions. It works closely with the Headquarters in Washington D.C and another shared services center in Sofia, Bulgaria. Under the guidance and supervision of a Team Lead and/or Functional Lead, the incumbent will have responsibilities for specific individual tasks/projects as well as for working as an integral part of the team in executing the Treasury Operation’s work program, while maintaining close relationships with the other Treasury departments.

The Treasury Banking Operations (TREBK) team ensures all World Bank payments, receipts, and FX related to corporate cash activity are processed and performs key reconciliation controls and reporting over cash transactions and investment portfolios.  The unit consists of four teams responsible for coordinating to execute the work program: (1) cash planning and ensuring all FX conversions are executed to meet the Bank’s liquidity needs and processing payments and receipts for proper accounting; (2) managing bank accounts and relationships with all corporate banking counterparts: (3) performing controls to ensure the completeness, accuracy and validity of all cash and security positions, investigating and resolving differences with external records, and financial reporting of cash balances and external client reporting of investment holdings; and (4) managing the WBG’s SWIFT infrastructure and maintaining SSIs and key static data related to payment and receipt processing.

Cash Management: Assist in daily cash planning for non-USD corporate cash – positioning of cash across corporate cash account in various currencies and working with TRE’s Investments department to cover cash needs or place excess balances (cash planning for USD corporate cash may be required occasionally);

Perform daily cash planning, ensuring that corporate bank accounts are properly funded to meet all payments, any discrepancies are resolved, and any excess/deficient positions are covered through the investment portfolio.

• Ensure timely posting of receipts, funding of payments and FX requests to the appropriate business unit.
• Follow-up and confirm foreign exchange deals transacted directly with the Central Banks in various countries.
• Fund foreign exchange requests received from Business Units across the Bank.
• Fund payment requests received from Business Units across the Bank.
• Periodically review all cash application queues to ensure all transactions are cleared.
• Liaise with business units both in and out of TREOP/TRE to troubleshoot and solve various issues involving cash that might arise.
• Work collaboratively with teammates in resolving any issues related to disbursements or cash management as they may arise.
• Work collaboratively with teammates in resolving any issues related to disbursements or cash management as they may arise.
• Participate in any projects or other initiatives in TRE/WB as they may arise (such as Quantum upgrade, new transactions, etc.).
• Update procedures documentations as required.
• Perform ad-hoc functions or assist with team deliverables and projects.

Banking Relations: Support colleagues to perform bank account maintenance functions, including opening, closing, and negotiating bank accounts with commercial and central banks around the world for corporate and country office needs, coordinating with business partners and Legal on a timely accurate manner.  

• Support banking relations functions including maintaining database of contact points and arranging periodic meetings to review service and learn from counterparts about emerging trends.
• Support periodic service assessment reviews of key banking service providers.
• Perform bank monitoring and geopolitical monitoring functions for assigned portfolio of correspondent banking partners.
• Respond to KYC, AML / CFT requests and address queries, coordinating with Legal, as needed.
• Act as the liaison with WBG-wide business units requesting Merchant Accounts (credit card accounts) to collect business revenues and chair users group meetings.  Coordinate all Merchant Account openings / closures with gateway provider.
• Review dormant bank accounts with business units and provide summary of follow-up actions needed.
• Respond to ad hoc queries as they may arise

The candidate is expected to work Singapore or London shift and at times will be required to provide extended support to overlap with Washington D.C. Candidate will also be required to observe USA Holiday calendar to meet reporting deadlines as per business needs. **

Selection Criteria

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, Economics, Legal Studies, or related field with at least 3 years plus of relevant experience in the financial services industry.
• Candidates with Master’s degree in Finance, Economics, Legal Studies, or related field or progression towards business-related certifications (CTP, CFA, FRM, etc.) will have an advantage.
• Knowledge of and familiarity with Treasury business lines, back office operational functions and Treasury systems including banking, payment operations and cash management.
• Fluency in the English language and excellent communication skills, both spoken and written.
• Strong proficiency in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. Familiarity with Microsoft Power Platform tools (Power BI, Power Automate, and Power Query) is a strong plus.
• Strong database management and analytical skills, with a proven track record of effectively manipulating, analyzing, and interpreting large datasets. Experience with data visualization tools and techniques is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated ability to manage simultaneous competing demands to deliver on-time in a fast-paced, deadline driven environment.
• Self-starter with ability to take responsibility for own actions and learn quickly.
• Detail-oriented with strong organization skills.
• Problem-solver with proven ability to develop creative solutions.
• Reliable team player, a positive attitude, open and collegial work style with strong interpersonal skills and the ability to collaborate in a team-based, multi-cultural work environment within a team that is dispersed across different geographical locations (e.g. Washington, D.C, and Sofia, Bulgaria).
• Flexibility to work early morning or late evening IST hours to have overlap with other offices will be required to meet reporting deadlines along with willingness to travel, if required, for training and team projects.
• Strong client focuses and services skills, including the ability to listen, assess and respond to client needs.
• Complies with highest ethical standards.

Source: https://worldbankgroup.csod.com/ats/careersite/JobDetails.aspx?id=28809&site=1