Aaliyah Abbas

Junior derivatives negotiator supporting a top tier Japanese Investment Bank (“Bank”) supporting their Legal Team with the end to end negotiation of financial agreements such as ISDA's, VM CSA's, GMRA's, GMSLA's and CDEA's.

Key functions:

• Due diligence which includes reviewing operative/constitutional documents, netting and legal opinions of various jurisdictions.
• Oversaw contract lifecycle management from initial drafting through renegotiation or termination while minimizing legal exposure.
• Drafting and negotiating the above mentioned financial agreements.
• Liaising with counterparties domiciled in various jurisdictions.
• Interface with internal stakeholders and clients, as well as ensuring alignment with the Bank's trading strategies.

Formed part of a post-execution team supporting a top tier UK Investment Bank (“Bank”) with their financial documentation management:

• Attending to initiating internal requests and closing of internal systems of the Bank to reflect executed documentation for operational and internal regulatory and compliance purposes.
• Ensuring internal requests are set up correctly with correct parties, documents and products;
• Ensuring that regulatory documents such as EMIR and Terms of Business are in place for product progression.
• Reviewing the accuracy of EMIR and Delegation Trading Agreement Forms and loading it onto the Bank’s system.
• Quality Checks on completions:
• Reviewing the work of junior team members on the project for quality control.
• Providing the Bank with regular updates on the project and flagging any concerns.
• Monitor regulatory compliance:
• Ensuring that the relevant regulations/protocols are complied with and escalating to the Inhouse Legal team.
• Counterparty jurisdiction relevant for regulatory compliance included Irish Bail In and Stay, US Stays, UK Bail In and Stay.
• The suite of documents covered in the project included: ISDA (UK & US), OTC Clearing Agreement, IM Collateral Transfer Agreements, IM Collateral Security Agreement, Credit Support Deed, CSA, GMRA, GMSLA, Futures Execution and Clearing Global Netting Agreement, Prime Brokerage Agreement, CDEA and Committed Margin Lending Agreement.
• Stakeholder engagement across the bank: Frequently engaged with various Inhouse Teams such as Risk Advisory, Inhouse Legal, Collateral Management Sales, Regulatory and Compliance, Onboarding within the Bank.
• Attending to audit requests for regulatory compliance of the Bank.
• Collateral queries:
• Working closely with the collateral team to remediate any discrepancies raised.
• Time Management/ Prioritization
• Attending to various requests from stakeholders and prioritizing urgent matters where imminent execution and trading deadlines are to be met.
• Netting queries:
• Assist the risk team by doing a netting review and setting up the internal systems of the Bank.

Reviewing US Case law: Participated in a legal research project for a large American client, using an Artificial Intelligence platform to review case law.

Key functions:

• Review and compare case law and legal principles to establish whether there have been developments or overruling which requires a good understanding of the authority and jurisdiction of courts.
• Maintained strong attention to detail while reviewing numerous documents daily, ensuring consistent quality and accuracy.
• Maintained strict confidentiality with sensitive client information, adhering to industry standards and company policies.