Credit Support-Commercial Banking at Gulf African Bank

Job purpose

The role of Credit Support-Commercial Banking is to support the business team members- Assistant Relationship Managers and Relationship managers (RM) in their respective teams / region, to manage a high-quality portfolio of Commercial banking clients in a manner that complies with the Bank’s policies. (In line with Shariah and other banks, regulators policies).

Key Responsibilities

Credit facilities reviews, decisioning and portfolio management

A key part of the- Credit Support-Commercial Banking role is to support the business team during the credit cycle. Specific responsibilities during the various stages of the credit cycle include:

Review of credit proposals

• Receive all the information and documentation required for a proposal from the Senior RMs and RMs to analyze for lending purposes.
• Assist Senior Relationship Managers and Relationship Managers review/confirm the submitted information and documentation through site visits and subsequent follow-up meetings/conversations—for adequacy, completeness, and compliance with all Bank requirements
• Prepare all the credit proposals and give recommendation and submit the same for review by RMs and team leader.
• Finalize the credit proposal by incorporating additional comments where necessary and recommendation and signing off prior to submission to credit.

Credit decision

• Respond to questions from the Credit department or Management Credit Committee for the submitted credit applications. RMs can assist the analyst by providing further information.
• Work closely with the business team members to ensure fulfillment of all conditions precedent to facility disbursement, and ensure that all the relevant documentation is in place
• To ensure zero returns of files from Credit due to documentation

Portfolio Management

• Prepare quarterly reviews on borrowing customers and update on covenant tracking whether met or not.
• Support the Relationship Manager and the business team to raise restructure requests where the client is facing challenges
• In the event of non-payment of a facility installment, ensure that the business team members – ARM and RM have contacted the client immediately, and, if not resolved, assist them in subsequent actions to recover credit in arrears according to Bank procedures.
• Monitor accounts in arrears and overdrawn accounts, work with the Assistant Relationship Managers, Relationship managers and relevant Bank staff to reduce the portfolio at risk and work with the Collections Unit to develop and implement recovery processes. This in turn will help to reduce the portfolio at risk
• Work closely with the business team in monitoring the asset portfolio to prevent defaults on client’s payment, alterations in the client’s business, and to be aware of forthcoming client’s financial needs.
• Prepare early warning signs report for clients that have shown signs of distress for onward submission to Team leader and subsequent to Monitoring department. Ensure all Accounts with warning signs are promptly presented to early watch forum and need to ensure no client is transferred to DRU without at least 2 months on early watch forum and regular updates provided.
• Follow-up with business team on corrective action to follow on recovery of facilities as guided by the DRU Policy (e.g. the issuance of demand letters and transfer of files in due time to the DRU (Debt Recovery Unit).
• Proactively data mine and advise the business team early on clients which they can enhance facilities.
• Highlight all covenants for the borrowing client and update its status if met or not.
• Review of the quarterly facility reviews and ensure timely submission of the required documents same is done for all borrowing clients in the assigned portfolio

Required Competencies (Knowledge, Skills & Abilities)

Qualification and experience

• Business graduate from an accredited university preferably with a major in Finance, Marketing and/or Economics. Professional qualification such as CPA, CFA will be an added advantage.
• Proven experience of at least two (2) years in a similar position, with hands on experience in managing a portfolio of clients and analyzing business proposals.

Functional Competencies

Credit skills

1. Ability to prepare financing proposals
2. Ability to analyze balance sheet and profit & Loss statements
3. Ability to do cash flow analysis,
4. Knowledge of business segments and economic/industry  sectors and risks relating to the segments
5. Knowledge of relevant Shariah policies/ processes
6. Detailed knowledge of relevant Bank policies, e.g. Credit, KYC, AML

Business development skills

1. A good understanding of the target market and growth opportunities
2. Thorough knowledge of the Bank’s products and services
3. Ability to monitor targets, use relevant information from dashboard to identify areas to focus on.