Trading-Counterparty Exposure Recovery Leader

The mandate

A trading counterparty defaulted after the group’s limit view lagged new physical nominations, derivative replacement cost and unpaid invoices. Teams assumed contractual netting across entities and products that counsel later disputed, while collateral calls followed separate records. The counterparty head was removed after the loss review, creating a ten-month executive gap to stabilise exposures and rebuild authority before seasonal trading volume rises.

The interim leader will establish counterparty exposure from legal entity and agreement through trade, market value, settlement, physical delivery, receivable, collateral, guarantee and dispute. Work includes intraday aggregation, netting eligibility approved by counsel, potential exposure, wrong-way and concentration views, limit workflow, collateral command and default playbooks. Commercial opportunity must be visible alongside liquidity and recovery consequence.

A permanent counterparty executive will be appointed by month six and lead the final default simulation plus one large limit decision. Handover requires the successor to reject or condition a profitable trade, resolve a disputed netting set and explain collateral liquidity to governance. The transfer includes entity maps, legal opinions, limit rationale, model assumptions, exception population, desk behaviour and unresolved documentation.

The seat can block new exposure within delegated limits, require collateral, reduce or condition limits, direct default command, prioritise documentation and escalate desk restrictions. It cannot approve legal netting, trade, set commercial price, sign credit support, seize collateral, determine provisions, waive sanctions controls or accept exposure beyond board appetite. Those authorities remain with named officers.

The remit excludes leading market risk, legal, trading desks or permanent credit operations. Success means exposures aggregate before action, limits reflect full physical and financial obligations, collateral is operationally visible, default choices are rehearsed and permanent leadership can withstand commercial pressure. Modelled netting or guarantees without enforceability and entity evidence will not reduce exposure.

Why this seat is open

The default showed that profitable desks, legal agreements and operational receivables were viewed separately until recovery, and leadership accountability failed. The next trading season arrives before a permanent search can mature. Temporary authority is needed to constrain exposure now, align evidence across functions and test the successor through a decision where revenue and counterparty protection genuinely conflict.

What you will own

• Aggregate exposure across derivatives, physical nominations, inventory title, receivables, settlements, guarantees and collateral by legal entity.
• Apply counsel-approved netting and security views with agreement, product, entity, jurisdiction, condition and effective-date evidence.
• Integrate current replacement cost, potential exposure, wrong-way risk, concentration and liquidity consequence into limit decisions.
• Establish intraday triggers for market movement, delivery change, payment delay, collateral failure and adverse intelligence.
• Direct default simulations covering trade stop, close-out, physical continuity, collateral, payments, treasury and recovery governance.
• Challenge desk requests using risk-adjusted return, exposure path, exit capacity, documentation and alternative structures.
• Induct the successor through netting and limit choices and transfer the full exposure and exception record.

Candidate qualifications

• Has led counterparty risk for physical and financial commodity trading through default or severe credit deterioration.
• Understands master agreements, physical contracts, netting, guarantees, collateral, settlements, receivables and wrong-way exposure.
• Can aggregate fast-moving legal-entity exposure before complete end-of-day data, preserve source confidence and keep known timing uncertainty visible to decision-makers.
• Has conditioned or rejected highly profitable trades because exit, collateral or documentation did not support risk.
• Has commanded default simulations across desks, legal, treasury, operations and risk with executable timing.
• Demonstrates permanent leadership succession through contested limit and legal-evidence decisions before departure.

Non-negotiables

• Will work onsite in Hong Kong and attend weekly exposure command and monthly regional desk reviews.
• Must disclose relationships with traders, banks, brokers, exchanges, counterparties and commodity investors.
• Brings physical-plus-derivative counterparty command; lending credit analysis alone is insufficient.
• Will not recognise netting, guarantees or collateral without applicable entity, agreement and enforceability evidence.

1. 49 words maximum. Which physical delivery exposure most often disappears from a derivatives-led counterparty view?
2. 49 words maximum. How would you decide a profitable trade when netting enforceability remains disputed?
3. 49 words maximum. What limit decision must the permanent counterparty executive own before handover?