Head of Client Coverage Ghana and West Africa

Empowering Africa’S Tomorrow, Together…One Story At A Time.

With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group.

My Career Development Portal: Wherever you are in your career, we are here for you. Design your future. Discover leading-edge guidance, tools and support to unlock your potential. You are Absa. You are possibility.

Job Summary

The role is:
• Accountable for providing leadership to the Business and CIB Coverage businesses at a regional and country level.
• Responsible for client acquisition, retention, share of wallet optimization, driving growth in market share, enterprise development and transformation.
• Accountable for facilitating tradeoffs between segment, sectors, and product to achieve the desired commercial shape in the country and region.
• The incumbent will be accountable for the sales and service performance of CIB Coverage in-country and in the region.
• Acts as the most senior face of CIB Coverage in the Region
• Act as Head for all CIB Coverage Sector Heads in Ghana

Job Description

Key Accountabilities

Accountability: Drive Business Performance

• Drive new business growth in line with the Bank’s commercial growth aspirations
• Build and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with key CIB clients i.e. CEOs of big corporates, and key public sector officials in the country and region.
• Drive sales performance at a country and regional level to enable realization of the desired commercial and customer shape
• Actively monitor country and regional performance against the scorecard, identify root causes of non-performance and develop and implement remediation plans with relevant stakeholders across the value chain.

Accountability: Strategy Development and Execution

• Develop a Country and Regional CIB Coverage strategy
• Accountable for the execution of the bank’s in-country and regional Coverage strategy
• Collaborate with pan Africa Sector and Product Heads to ensure strategies are aligned across west Africa.

Accountability: Customer Experience

• Develop and implements strategies to enhance and broaden customer value proposition, service, delivery, and client engagement in line with the overall product strategies
• Accountable for driving and monitoring in-country and regional Coverage customer experience standards, remediating service failures and identifying lead indicators of service issues and collaborate Segment, Sector and Product Heads to develop corrective actions to proactively remediate issues to uphold a high level of customer experience.

Accountability: People and Culture

• Lead and drive the colleague agenda
• Builds and sustain a culture that aligns to CIB’s aspirational colleague experience to deliver the target customer experience
• Accountable for cascading the CIB strategy to coverage teams.
• Accountable for strategic workforce planning, balancing short and long-terms strategic sourcing requirements to ensure that CIB Coverage is appropriately resourced to meet demand, compliance, and customer experience requirements.
• Embedment of key strategic systems such as salesforce, MyMI. Scorecard etc.

Accountability: Maintain healthy Risk profile & Control

• Identify and take accountability for the assigned principal risks relevant to the area in terms of the Absa Bank Ghana Operational Risk Management Framework and ensure that adequate controls are in place within the role’s area of responsibility.
• Monitor all business risk activities (including business assurance and operational risk management) within the remit of this operating environment through obtaining feedback and providing guidance for tactical plans to ensure compliance to Group standards.
• Drive a culture of proactive compliance and risk management within the executive team and the function.
• Review the risk management and compliance practices of this function as a whole and highlight areas that require improvement to leaders in the team. Ensure that they understand their responsibility for risk ownership.
• Accountable for ensuring an optimal and compliant control environment within CIB in that appropriately balances risk appetites and customer demand with the need to grow to achieve the financial ambitions and balance sheet aspirations of CIB.
• Ensure that CIB coverage colleagues possess the required capabilities (infrastructure, people, process and culture) to comply with relevant regulations & governance.  

Accountability: Regional business growth

• Develop the west Africa regional strategy in alignment with CIB ambitions
• Develop better understanding of the identified new countries and work closely with sovereign risk teams to align on credit appetite
• Absa brand positioning in non-presence markets
• Build and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with key CIB clients i.e. CEOs of big corporates, high profile and key public sector officials in the rest of region
• Identify growth opportunities in priority sectors in semi and non-presence markets
• Create clear deliverables and budgets for selected non-presence markets
• Identify and Originate deals in semi and non-presence markets
• Lead and co-ordinate across sectors, product, and credit to solution and execute semi and non-presence, markets in West Africa
• Lead, coordinate and grow the regional corporate portfolio across the region and Africa

Role/Person Specification

Education and experience required

• Advanced/Master’s degree in Finance/Business Administration s or a relevant qualification
• 10 years’ experience in the Financial Services sector which must include proven experience
• 5 years’ experience of senior management level in financial services
• 5 years’ Corporate and Investment Banking Experience
• 5 years in a Regional Corporate Coverage role
• Professional Certification / relevant accreditation or equivalent (ACIB, CFA, CIMA etc.)

Knowledge And Skills:

• Strategic thinker
• Strong Leadership ability
• Effective communication skills
• Experience managing diverse teams
• Experience of operating in a changing environment
• Combination of risk awareness and commercial savvy
• Relevant senior business leadership experience
• Product expertise and client acquisition experience is essential.

Competencies:

• Entrepreneurial and commercial thinking
• Adapting and responding to change
• Coping with pressures and setbacks
• Formulating strategies and concepts
• Deciding and initiating action
• Delivering results and meeting customer expectations
• Leading and supervising
• Working with people

Education

Bachelors Degree and Professional Qualifications: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (Required)