Job Description
Traineeships in the Compliance and Governance Office
Reference: 2017-066-TRA
Functional area: Secretariat
Function:
The Compliance and Governance Office (CGO) is part of the Directorate General Secretariat within the European Central Bank (ECB) and supports the Executive Board in protecting the integrity and reputation of the ECB, by promoting ethical standards of behaviour within the institution and by strengthening its accountability and transparency. The CGO is subdivided into two teams – the Compliance team and the Governance team.
The Compliance team is responsible for:
implementing the ECB’s ethics regime and contributing to its development by conducting regular reviews and benchmarking exercises to ensure it remains up to date;
taking the necessary measures to promote and monitor compliance with the ECB’s ethics regime, including conduct of ongoing training and provision of individual advice and guidance;
supporting the enhancement and harmonisation of ethics and compliance standards within the Eurosystem and in the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM);
performing the secretary function for the ECB’s Ethics Committee;
supporting the Adviser in charge of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing matters;
supporting the Director General Secretariat with regard to fraud and corruption matters.
The Governance team is responsible for:
developing and implementing the ECB’s regime for access to documents and conducting regular reviews to ensure that it remains up to date;
coordinating requests and queries received from the European Ombudsman;
performing the secretary function for the ECB’s Audit Committee.
We are seeking to appoint two trainees – one for each team. Please indicate your preference in your application.
As a trainee you will be involved in:
conducting research on best practice in the areas of transparency, good governance and ethics and compliance within other central banks and international financial institutions;
contributing to the creation of an internal archive of case law relevant to the CGO’s sphere of competence;
monitoring and reporting on legislative developments in ethics and/or governance issues (as relevant) at national and EU level;
gradually taking over day-to-day first-level responsibility for requests for advice;
supporting the review of the relevant legal framework of the ECB by verifying the mutual coherence of provisions on dedicated ethical and/or governance topics (as relevant).
As a trainee, you will be assigned a supervisor/mentor.
Qualifications and experience:
You will bring to the role:
a bachelor’s degree or higher in law and ideally from a university within the EU;
a mastery-level command of English;
good knowledge of banking and/or financial law and of EU law;
an advanced command of at least one other official language of the EU;
a working knowledge of MS Office, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint;
ideally, knowledge of document management systems such as OpenText Livelink.
Competencies:
You will also bring your ability to:
handle sensitive information in a discreet manner, respecting confidentiality;
understand who his or her clients are and their expectations;
adapt to changing plans and circumstances with ease;
cooperate with team members, adopt an open attitude and share to achieve common goals;
approach projects with energy and drive;
work comfortably without close supervision, but knowing when to involve others;
avoid becoming defensive and to remain personable when under pressure;
generate agreed results within tight time frames;
use rigorous logic and comprehensive processes in order to solve difficult problems;
prioritise tasks and pay attention to detail, even when under time pressure.
Further Information:
Traineeship of between four and six months, with the possibility of an extension up to12 months in total in the same business area.
How to apply:
Applications are to be made in English and submitted using our online application form. An "Applicants' Guide" can be downloaded from our recruitment pages.
The recruitment process may include a pre-screening exercise and a telephone interview.
Before applying, applicants should check that they meet the conditions set out in Article 4 of the rules governing the traineeship programme:
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/careers/what-we-offer/traineeship/html/index.en.html
Further information on the ECB's traineeships can be found via the above link.
Applicants are accepted from nationals of the Member States of the European Union.
The requirements laid down in the vacancy notice must be met by the closing date for applications.
This vacancy notice may be used to fill the same position again, or similar positions, within 12 months of the selection decision.