Banking and Securities Operations Senior Operative - Specialist within Customer Banking (12 month FTC/12 month internal secondment)

Banking and Securities Operations Senior Operative - Specialist within Customer Banking (12 month FTC/12 month internal secondment)

The Bank of England is the UK's central bank. Our mission is to deliver monetary and financial stability for the British people.

The Bank of England is a diverse organisation. Each of its 4,000 people are committed to public service and dedicated to promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability.

Banking Directorate (BD) supports the Bank’s mission to maintain monetary and financial stability by using and sharing its expertise to: develop and operate resilient and efficient banking, payment and custody services; set and influence policy; and to promote innovation.

We are at the heart of the Bank both in terms of our core role in Monetary and Financial Stability, and the wide range of internal stakeholders we collaborate with. The variety and immediacy of the work we do means we are one of the most outward facing and fast moving areas of the Bank, acting as the 'bank' within the Bank of England for government, UK CCPs and other central banks.

Banking Operations in Customer Banking Division (CBD), sits within the BD structure. The role of the Banking Operations team is to deliver a wide range of banking services to our customers, including central banks and international financial institutions, crisis accounts, as well as internal and government customers. We provide custodial services for gold and the Bank’s contingency banknote store, high value payment services in sterling and euro, services in retail banking through our membership of BACS, as well as operating a Counter service for processing note exchanges.

The Sterling Payment Operations team (SPO) was formed in May 2022 and provides a number of payment services including:

• wholesale banking services to the Government and other customers such as central banks and CCPs
• settlement of high value CHAPS payments and retail/BACs payments

The SPO team comprises 20 staff.

This is an exciting opportunity for a reliable candidate with strong interpersonal skills to join the SPO team.

Working within this team includes a broad spectrum of responsibilities including processing high value payments for our customers and providing contingency for major clearers such as LINK Settlement and BACS. The team have responsibility for management of the Exchequer Pyramid; monitoring and reporting on the flow of funds across these government accounts, including daily liaison with HM Treasury, Debt Management Office and the Government Banking Service.

The team are responsible for processing, investigating and resolving CHAPS and SWIFT payment queries and providing a professional customer service. The team are required to operate from 05:30 to 19:00 and are split across two shifts on a rota basis. The Early Shift works from 05:30am until 12:00pm (typically worked from home) and the late shift is from 12:00pm until typically 19:00pm. There is also a requirement to work some weekends.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Processing and settlement of high value CHAPS payments in line with payment targets and SWIFT guidelines
• Regular reporting, liaising and payment processing for HM Treasury
• Leading and repairing SWIFT payment instructions in our Banking system queues
• Processing sterling payments for our customers
• Establishing and maintaining good working relationships with both internal and external customers
• Being aware of and alert to anti-money laundering procedures
• Participating in regular contingency tests for all the clearing within the RTGS system

• Proficient in MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook)
• Proven time management skills with the ability to prioritise their workload effectively to meet time critical targets, in a fast paced environment
• Experience of dealing with internal and external stakeholders
• Experience of working within a team, taking direction from others, and collaborating effectively.
• Proven verbal and written communication skills
• Proven data entry skills, must be able to input information with high degree of speed and accuracy, attention to detail and know how to retrieve data quickly

• Prior knowledge and experience of the payments industry and/or Sterling processes
• Prior knowledge of ISO20022

The Bank values diversity and inclusion – we want to reflect the society we serve better, we want the best people to work for us and we want our workplace to be inclusive. We value all forms of diversity, including but not limited to age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religion and sexual orientation. One way we support diversity and inclusion is through our staff-run networks, which are summarised here.

We are fully committed to having a diverse and inclusive working environment, and are open to considering how the role might be carried out with flexible working. This role is therefore open to flexible working patterns.

Where a role can be carried out from home, we are working towards colleagues spending at least half of their time in the office, so that we can all benefit from working together in person, while maintaining the flexibility offered by home working. From 6 June 2022, we expect colleagues to spend a minimum of 40% of their working time in the office per month. Subject to that minimum requirement, individuals and managers should work together to find what works best for them and their team.

We are also committed to making adjustments for candidates and employees where possible, and have partnered with external expert organisations to support us in this. We are a member of the Disability Confident scheme, summarised here, and people who wish to apply under this scheme should check the box in the ‘Candidate Personal Information’ under the ‘Disability Confident Scheme’ section of the application.

We anonymise applications so hiring managers will not be able to see your personal information when reviewing your submission, including your CV. Please fully complete the application form questions as requested, as any incomplete submissions may not be reviewed.

The Bank of England is a distinctive institution and our rewards are one of the things that set us apart. As well as enjoying a competitive salary you will work in a collaborative, inclusive environment, with a subsidised restaurant, flexible working opportunities and plenty of wellbeing initiatives.

This is a 12 month fixed term contract.

This specific role offers a base salary range of £29,640 - £35,100 per annum (depending on skills and experience) on a full-time basis.

In addition we also offer a comprehensive benefits package as detailed below. We encourage flexible working & part time working , therefore both salary and associated benefits will be adjusted on a pro-rata basis for part-time colleagues

• A non-contributory, career average pension giving you a guaranteed retirement benefit of 1/95th of your annual salary for every year worked. There is the option to increase your pension (to 1/50th) or decrease (to 1/120th) in exchange for salary through our flexible benefits programme each year.
• A discretionary performance award based on a current award pool.
• A 7% benefits allowance with the option to take as salary or purchase a wide range of flexible benefits. (Note that from April 2023 and for the Benefits year 2023/24, this will increase to 8%)
• 26 days annual leave with option to buy up to 12 additional days through flexible benefits. (Note: effective from April 2023)
• Private medical insurance and income protection.

Employment in this role will be subject to National Security Vetting clearance and the passing of additional Bank security checks in accordance with Bank policy from time to time. Further information of vetting and security clearance requirements for the role will be provided to the successful applicant. Further information about how the Bank processes personal data for these purposes, is set out in the Bank’s Privacy Notice at Privacy and the Bank of England | Bank of England.

The closing date for applications is 29 June 2023.

Please apply online, ensuring that you answer the application questions, complete the work history and submit your CV.