Senior Product Manager - Transactional and Deposit Product at Absa Bank Limited

Job Summary

• The Job holder will be responsible for Product Management of the Current account and savings portfolio.
• Designing and delivery of the product line strategy and annual plans to support the achievement of the objectives of the Absa Retail and Business Banking Strategy.
• The role holder will be responsible for developing the Transactional product strategy in line within the current customer segmentation strategy (Premier, Prestige, SME,Standard or personal segments) towards meeting our revenue objective.
• Responsibility in managing the product profitability on existing portfolio and growing new revenue streams, managing interest expense whilst maintaining balance sheet growth.
• Portfolio customer life cycle management to optimise on revenue opportunities within the stock book including funding, balance sheet growth from new and existing portfolio.
• Sales strategy to support the customer branch network channels, Direct Sales Channel, segments in driving customer and balance sheet growth.
• The role holder will be responsible for the Product Mix, Product Pricing, Product Campaigns and New product development & implementation.
• Strategy to improve service support at the front end, customer experience and ensure a high NPS score.
• Manage Product governance and review controls environments, Audits   programs, Product Critical process assessments(CPA’s).

Job Description

Key accountabilities;

Driving Business Performance/Business direction 40% 

• Understand the drivers of foreign currency growth both from a market trends view and an economic standpoint.
• Liaise with the Absa Treasury and Finance teams as required to understand key business and market drivers, and strategic actions in line with driving foreign currency growth.
• Understand customer segmentation & customer needs and assist to develop foreign currency product offerings to deliver the required customer value propositions to drive foreign currency sales performance.
• Ensure the foreign currency strategy and implementation plans are developed, cascaded to required stakeholders and thereafter implemented within the required timelines.
• Engage with Consumer Banking Sales staff to ensure the delivery of foreign currency sales commitments.
• Recommend and in liaison with the Transactional Accounts, Foreign currency Accounts and Debit Card Product Managers implement agreed product line adjustments to support the delivery of foreign currency sales numbers.
• Ensure Consumer Banking Sales and Customer Service staff are adequately trained for the delivery of Foreign Currency sales and ensure regular timely market information is provided to support Sales and Customer Service Staff with day-to-day management of foreign currency sales and customer queries.
• Identify the key lines of cost and income, and the levers we have to control costs and income to drive foreign currency growth. Set the Foreign Currency strategy according to these levers to achieve the specified performance targets.
• To work closely with the Retail Network and Segment heads to improve Foreign Currency Sales and Profitability performance.
• To support in the rapid development of new product / businesses/trainings which are expected to generate significant growth in the foreign currency portfolio.

Business Monitoring 30%

• Ensure up-to-date competitor and market data on Foreign Currency product and service offers are maintained and appropriate recommendations are done to keep BBK ahead of competition.
• Ensure the country pricing decisions, product feature changes and new product development that have financial implications on the Foreign Currency portfolio’s income and margin performance follow the correct governance process, in liaison with the Transactional Accounts, Foreign currency Accounts and Debit Card Product Managers.
• Monitor performance of the Foreign Currency Portfolio against key measures including P&L review and management on a monthly basis. Report results with recommendations about performance and actions to improve this.
• Ensure Foreign Currency numbers e.g. branch foreign currency sales are allocated correctly by Treasury and Finance.
• Monitor Foreign Currency Sales performance in the Retail Network on a daily basis with relevant reporting to key stakeholders. Engage the Retail Network as required to drive up foreign currency portfolio performance.
• Identify areas of fee leakage from a Retail Network and Product perspective, and resolve these with relevant stakeholders.
• Produce regular reporting and stakeholder feedback for the Consumer Banking Foreign Currency business including what the customer value proposition is, account and customer behavior, key performance indicators (e.g. fee income and margin), key drivers (e.g. pricing), and changes required to the existing plans to respond to market conditions. 
• Liaise with all stakeholders on the foreign currency customer value proposition positioning and functionality, foreign currency portfolio performance targets and activities planned.
• Work to develop the management information and reporting for both central and local use to support the analysis required for improved Foreign Currency Portfolio performance.
• Implement and monitor the Customer Lifecycle Management Program (CLM) to drive foreign currency sales performance.
• Work with the Head of Customer Experience to drive any customer related activities to boost the performance of the Foreign Currency portfolio.

New Product Development/Amendments to existing products 30%

• Assist to generate and manage new product or product amendment ideas at the concept development stage
• Log product ideas for the product line utilising relevant research (e.g. input from customer insight and country product managers).  Review ideas and make recommendations to progress which are prioritised using value-based criteria.
• Assist with the design of new products or product features considering both customer requirements and the constraints for new developments. 
• Write the aggregate business case for new products using country input, risk and infrastructure plan, detailed operational risk assessment, and complete the financial model for product.
• Facilitate planning workshops to produce detailed plans for each product development work stream and manage infrastructure build, test, pilot launch and full launch.
• Obtain New Product Approvals for all new products or significant enhancements and ensure TCF principles are embedded in all the product and portfolio actions taken.
• Liaise with marketing to draft marketing plans and campaigns to support new products or product enhancements.
• Ensure adequate training is done for sales and service staff on the new product or product enhancements.
• Handover new product to BAU following process and undertake post project review.
• Implement governance, risk, compliance and control in line with Absa group policie

Other Risk and Control Objectives

• Ensure appropriate approvals are received prior to any customer communication or issuance of marketing material.
• Ensure Absa Data Privacy Policies are adhered to especially the dissemination of any customer information or other sensitive information.
• Ensure monthly monitoring of P&L performance against budget and highlight any anomalies with relevant stakeholders.
• Ensure monthly monitoring of any assigned General Ledger accounts and highlight any anomalies with relevant stakeholders.
• Ensure appropriate approvals are held for all special pricing cases.
• Ensure monthly competitor/market studies are held.
• Ensure appropriate approvals are held for any tariff changes

Role/person specification

Preferred Education

• A first degree in relevant field
• Strong Stakeholder management skills
• Strong Analytical skills
• Technical decision making skills
• Presentation Skills

Preferred Experience

• Detailed knowledge of consumer buying behaviour, marketing techniques and evolving trend
• Understanding of industry, advisory, regulatory and professional bodies
• Knowledge of Absa products and systems that support them, and a good understanding of Absa products. 
• Knowledge of Absa Governance processes

Knowledge and Skills

• Strong understanding of the local market.
• Strong understanding of transactional portfolio management. 
• Strong product management capabilities.
• Highly developed analytical skills, problem solving and planning abilities.
• Communication skills both written and oral.
• Strong numerical and analytical skills for calculation of statistics, figures and targets and understanding of product profit drivers.
• Strong team player, innovative- sell new ideas, build and maintain key relationships and with the ability to influence.
• Self-motivated and results orientated.
• Strong business awareness.
• Ability to work under minimal supervision and deliver under tight deadlines.
• Ability to deal at a detailed operational level.
• Excellent Stakeholder management

Education

• Bachelor's Degree: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (Required)