Senior Manager - Card Operations and Digital Support at Equity Bank Kenya

• To manage the card transaction life cycle, card life cycle and cardholder life cycle within the Card Operations teams. The position entails responsibility for providing strategic leadership, administration, management, governance as well improved service quality and a high level of customer satisfaction as a result of achieving high productivity and efficiency. The role also calls for constant improvement and effective team management from a cost vs. benefit and risk vs. service perspective.

Key Responsibilities/ Accountabilities
Strategy Execution

• Responsible for leading the actual implementation of all operational strategic initiatives that are set for the card operations unit and the larger operations division from time to time.

Financials & Settlements Management

• Offer leadership support for the day to day activities of the financials and settlement team to assure accurate and timely execution of all relevant tasks in the different stages of the transaction life cycle including executing customer instructions, responding to customer transaction queries, completing settlement process and related risks, transaction/accounting entries processing, reporting, communications to other parties and reconciliation activities for all products and services offered under Card Operations.
• Ensure proper due diligence and controls are set in place and practiced for all tasks related to financial postings, adjustments & revenue reversals.

Card Production Management

• Manage the end-to-end card production process up to the eventual delivery of the card to the customer within existing TaT.
• Manage optimum card stock levels for all products that balances business needs, costs and associated handling risks.
• Ensure completeness and accuracy Static data set-up within Card Management System (TWCMS)

Service Quality / Delivery

• Overall management and oversight of all transaction dispute resolution processes, systems/platforms, operating rules, service quality, TaT, SLA, accuracy and completeness.
• Ensure that efficient and quality services are provided to both internal and external customers that meet or exceed agreed service standards.
• Continuously review existing processes, procedures, controls and systems for improvements in quality, efficiency & TAT which may lead to system enhancements, optimization of resources, costs savings & reduction / eradication of redundancies & inefficiencies. This is in compliance to the rollout of the Operation’s Division Business Operational Excellence Framework – Lean Six Sigma
• To ensure that effective & updated Service Level Agreements are maintained with all relevant stakeholders and are accordingly met.
• To monitor closure of Natcare complaints & other outstanding issues owned by the unit to ensure that it does not attain escalate beyond the set SLA.
• Lead interactions between card operations and other departments & stakeholders of the Bank to build synergies, ensuring that our set goals & objectives are aligned with the wider interests of NBK as well as manage expectations through consistent feedback.
• Ensuring clients’ interest are fully protected and delivering value added services to clients in accordance to established procedures, regulations & laws and the Bank’s business need.

People Management

• Drive and embed a strong performance culture through inspiring, motivating and rigorous performance management discipline.
• Take ownership of Card Operations Staff productivity and performance directly related to daily activities performed.
• Continuous performance appraisal of staff – manage and motivate through constant feedback to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of performance.
• Develop and build talents within Card Operations through optimal resourcing, capacity planning and succession planning.
• Maintain a management file that details & documents all staff related issues i.e. assigned

Financial Controls and Risk Management

• Managing the card reconciliation cycle to ensure effective TB vs. GL reconciliation, complete & accurate settlements, refunds & reversals and further resolution of outstanding items as per set reconciliation rules. Observe zero tolerance on outstanding recon exceptions beyond the set life cycle.
• Ensure 100% collection of card revenue as well as accurate revenue splitting and invoicing.
• Supervise and monitor Operational Risk (OR) inherent activities within the Unit as well as supervise performance of Control Self Assessments (CSA) to get an assurance of current and accurate Risk and Loss registers.
• Demonstrate a sustained proactive approach towards identifying potential risks & process gaps.
• Ensure adherence to set SLAs, policies, procedures, processes, payment scheme operating rules, quality standards, local and international regulations while observing set operational risk requirements with respect to timely escalation of issues to and acceptance by the responsible units, providing regular updates and mitigation actions/strategies.
• Manage and review the BIA, BCP and DR through the year to ensure that the documentation, technologies and operational frameworks are functioning as intended & recommended by the CBK Prudential guidelines and industry best practices.
• Work jointly with the Risk department to conduct periodic e2e reviews of high-risk processes.
• Ensure that all Audit findings are resolved & closed within the agreed timelines and strictly adhere to the requirement of zero repeat audit findings.

Governance

• Maintain a strong and appropriate control and compliance environment.
• Ensuring internal/external escalation processes for all matters arising and ageing items do not exceed set timelines.
• Comply with ALL bank’s set policies, procedures & guidelines as well as other regulations and standards to the extent applicable and reporting all suspicious activities.

Cost Control

• Constantly reengineer non-value add steps within processes across service lines to reduce overheads.
• Pursue long term cost saving strategies that also increase productivity of staff.
• To manage the card transaction life cycle, card life cycle and cardholder life cycle within the Card Operations teams. The position entails responsibility for providing strategic leadership, administration, management, governance as well improved service quality and a high level of customer satisfaction as a result of achieving high productivity and efficiency. The role also calls for constant improvement and effective team management from a cost vs. benefit and risk vs. service perspective.

Qualifications
Qualifications and Experience

• A minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.
• Five (5) years’ experience in a busy card operations department.
• Problem solving skills
• People skills
• Customer handling skills

Working Relationships

• External Customers: Bank clients, VISA - Interswitch, Kenswitch, Posta, KPOSB, CMS Vendor – C+, ATM Vendor – NCR and Other Card related vendors
• Internal Customers: Card Services, Credit Operations & Collections, ICT, Finance, Audit, Legal & Treasury, Retail & Corporate teams, Operational & ICT Risk and Security and Investigations

Key Competencies
Technical

• Advanced computer skills
• Wide knowledge & experience on card business
• Risk assessment & management
• CBK prudential requirements

Functional

• Financial Sector Operations
• Strategic Planning
• Ability to drive change
• Analytical –highly analytical and ability to challenge status quo based on quantitative facts and impacts
• Cost benefit analysis
• Report writing-ability to develop reports

Behavioural

• Leadership and management-ability to lead teams, mentor and coach staff to goal definition and achievement
• Performance Management and team building
• Professionalism –maintains a professional approach based on ethics and NBK values (CHIC)
• Building consensus and influencing-ability to influence various players across all NBK departments
• Communication
• Customer orientation-is customer focused striking a solid balance between external and internal customer orientation
• Resilience –is able to withstand strategic and operational challenges and maintains momentum Emotional Intelligence-manages emotions in a mature and composed manner as expected of a leader.