Portfolio Management & Agency - Director

SMBC Group is a top-tier global financial group. Headquartered in Tokyo and with a 400-year history, SMBC Group offers a diverse range of financial services, including banking, leasing, securities, credit cards, and consumer finance. The Group has more than 130 offices and 80,000 employees worldwide in nearly 40 countries. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) is the holding company of SMBC Group, which is one of the three largest banking groups in Japan. SMFG’s shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York (NYSE: SMFG) stock exchanges.

In the Americas, SMBC Group has a presence in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. Backed by the capital strength of SMBC Group and the value of its relationships in Asia, the Group offers a range of commercial and investment banking services to its corporate, institutional, and municipal clients. It connects a diverse client base to local markets and the organization’s extensive global network. The Group’s operating companies in the Americas include Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC), SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc., SMBC Capital Markets, Inc., SMBC MANUBANK, JRI America, Inc., SMBC Leasing and Finance, Inc., Banco Sumitomo Mitsui Brasileiro S.A., and Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Co., Ltd.

The anticipated salary range for this role is between $250,000.00 and $250,000.00. The specific salary offered to an applicant will be based on their individual qualifications, experiences, and an analysis of the current compensation paid in their geography and the market for similar roles at the time of hire. The role may also be eligible for an annual discretionary incentive award. In addition to cash compensation, SMBC offers a competitive portfolio of benefits to its employees.

Role Description

The Specialized Finance Department's Project Finance Agency team is responsible for acting as a liaison between borrowers and lenders. In that capacity, the successful candidate will coordinate the flow of information from the structuring of a transaction between each borrower and the lenders in the syndicate to ensure the smooth operation and administration of the loan. To the extent that a borrower requires approval from lenders regarding any matter, the Agency team works with the borrower to advise on and help structure requests so as to be acceptable from a credit perspective, and works with the lenders to ensure that receipt of lenders approval is obtained within the scheduled time frame. This is a role with significant client contact both internally and externally.

Role Objectives: Delivery

• Work with alongside with other departments and external stakeholders during the pre-closing deal process.
• Providing advice to Borrower on amendment, consent and waiver requests; coordinating approvals of requests with Borrower, Lenders’ Counsel, outside experts, the origination and portfolio monitoring teams, the lender group and Export Credit Agencies
• Coordinating and approving loan activity (drawdowns, rate settings, rollovers, repayments/ prepayments) and letter of credit activity (issuance, amendments, draws, termination) with the operations teams. In order to do so, candidate must be familiar with all the conditions precedent (“CPs”) for such flow of funds and evaluate whether the presented materials meet each of the required CPs
• Checking CPs, reviewing cash waterfall and approving Collateral Account transfer requests (e.g. operating expenses, distributions, etc)
• Approving loan activity and transfer requests in team leader’s absence
• Overseeing junior team members responsible for tracking Borrower’s delivery of reporting requirements (i.e. compliance items), and their follow up for overdue items
• Reviewing junior team members monitoring of compliance documents for completeness and satisfaction of requirements in loan documents
• Monitoring distribution of compliance items and other documentation by junior team members to lender groups using DebtDomain (or similar data site), e-mail, etc.
• Responding to ad hoc information requests from lenders and borrowers
• Maintaining key deal information, contact lists, updating compliance and collateral tracking
• Preparing marketing materials for new transaction proposals
• Providing Agency Fee recommendations to origination teams for standard transactions
• Engaging with team leader for agency fee pricing for non-standard transactions
• Providing training and guidance to junior members of the Agency team
• Proactively work with other departments to improve workflow and bank initiatives.

Qualifications And Skills

• 10+ years in structured finance at a major financial institution
• Experience with Project Finance, Real Estate and/or Corporate Lending structures, including legal documentation, risk analysis and portfolio management.
• Experience with Export Finance Agency supported credits
• Experience with workout and distressed transactions

Skills, Abilities And/or Training

• Proficient with Excel, Word, Debtdomain and/or Intralinks
• Very strong organizational skills with a high degree of attention to detail
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal
• Able to handle multiple demands and prioritize activities
• Occasional travel

Education/Licenses/Certifications/Registrations

Bachelor’s Degree or Masters Degree in Finance, Business, Economics or relevant field

Spanish language proficiency desirable

Additional Requirements

SMBC’s employees participate in a Hybrid workforce model that provides employees with an opportunity to work from home, as well as, from an SMBC office. SMBC requires that employees live within a reasonable commuting distance of their office location. Prospective candidates will learn more about their specific hybrid work schedule during their interview process. Hybrid work may not be permitted for certain roles, including, for example, certain FINRA-registered roles for which in-office attendance for the entire workweek is required.

SMBC provides reasonable accommodations during candidacy for applicants with disabilities consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law. If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application process, please let us know at [email protected].