Senior Manager; Trade Finance

Job Summary

Responsible to assess credit applications submitted by the customers and prepare comprehensive credit memorandum highlighting all key risks with the appropriate mitigations and recommendation to the management. Managing expectation of the customers by ensuring all credit applications are processed within the agreed Turn Around Time.

Key responsibilities:

Strategic Functions

• Develop Trade Finance Unit Strategy in line with the Corporate Banking overall objectives and ambitions of the bank.
• Create a suitable structure for the best trade finance products, process and procedures including an end to end process flow between the front office and back-office functions.
• Ensure to circulate information on regulatory changes by government authorities or regulatory agencies with regards to trade finance products or effect on any products offering
• Liaise with all trade finance stakeholders i.e. customers, correspondent banks, government institutions and other financial institutions to ensure that the Bank’s interests are properly represented and safeguarded.
• Conduct basic statistical analysis to track performance variances and determine the root causes of errors. Make recommendations for productivity or process enhancements.
• Develop Service Level Agreement between relating to trade finance unite and the various stakeholders with the aim to improve service and business efficiency.
• Relationship Management Functions
• Actively disseminate CRDB Trade Finance capabilities through business interaction (clients and staff), formal internal/external presentations demonstrating the bank’s abilities in facilitating trade.
• Identify and negotiate business opportunities with corporate/institutional clients and develop overall strategies for business development in order to increase CRDB wallet share.
• Ensure consistent delivery of high-quality services to customers through meeting or exceeding customer expectation guided by the Service Level Agreement.
• Support the relationship team in determining the best solutions to retain existing clients and acquire new clients.
• Prepare a programme for branch visits, workshops and training for branches, Head Office staff, customers and other stakeholders.

Managerial Functions

• Monitor, analyse and circulate income/performance reports Prepare/review weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual reports for Senior Management, based on trade finance portfolio performance.
• Coordinate end to end collating and analysing customer information on Trade Finance performance on a monthly basis by customer and relationship manager. Flag customer accounts showing reduced volumes and initiating remedial action through prescribed action plans.
• Reconciliation and corrective action responsibility for accounting of portfolio clients, closed pipeline deals/transactions to ensure no income leakage.

Control Functions

• Manage the operational risk of the department to avoid operational/ reputational losses and ensure awareness and full compliance of policies, guidelines, procedures, practices and code of conduct set up by the bank.
• Conduct reviews of the Trade Finance portfolio and recommend appropriate interventions to ensure it performs in line with approved performance indicators and targets.
• Review and contribute to the enhancement of the Trade Finance Manual and other policies for the Bank to ensure that they are aligned with current statutory requirements and enable the CRDB to be competitive in offering Trade products.
• Review all unit reports and related processes and procedures to ensure sound quality control and recommend appropriate interventions in line with the policy.
• Review, develop, monitor and control the budget for the unit to ensure the budget is aligned with the business plan and expenses are controlled within agreed limits.

People Management Functions

• Manage the performance of subordinate staff and develop and implement training and development plans to ensure their performance is aligned with business goals and objectives.
• Build a performance-driven team by setting SMART objectives, constantly reviewing the department and individual performance against these objectives and providing the appropriate support, motivation and guidance to staff to achieve these objectives.
• Responsible for succession planning for key positions, managing the attrition of employees and ensuring that a plan is developed and executed for high potential individuals in the unit.

Experience, Knowledge and Skills Requirements

• Bachelor Degree in Banking, Finance, Business Administration or related business subjects from any accredited University, MBA will be an added advantage.

In-depth knowledge of trade finance products and services available to clients. 

• Well-informed of the market competitive structure, industry practices and regulations for banking with at least 6 years’ experience in the local environment.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, decision-making and financial management skills.
• Excellent interpersonal and networking skills, internally and externally.
• Leadership skills.

Interested candidates who meet the above criteria should submit an Application Letter accompanied with a detailed up to date CV with two work-related referees addressed to the below email with a clear subject of the position applied for not later than 16th April 2020.

Hard copies will not be accepted. Email- [email protected]​