Manager, Client Relations (FWAF Regional Office)

About Afreximbank African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade.

For 30 years, the Bank has been deploying innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa. A stalwart supporter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has launched a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the AfCFTA. Working with the AfCFTA Secretariat and the AU, the Bank is setting up a US$10 billion Adjustment Fund to support countries to effectively participate in the AfCFTA. At the end of December 2023, Afreximbank’s total assets and guarantees stood at over US$37.3 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$6.1 billion. The Bank disbursed more than US$104 billion between 2016 and 2023. Afreximbank has investment grade ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A), Moody’s (Baa1), Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) (A-) and Fitch (BBB). Afreximbank has evolved into a group entity comprising the Bank, its impact fund subsidiary called the Fund for Export Development Africa (FEDA), and its insurance management subsidiary, AfrexInsure, (together, “the Group”). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.

The role is supposed to help the Bank to achieve its mission “stimulating a consistent expansion of and diversification of African trade so as to rapidly increase Africa’s share of global trade, while operating as a first class, profit oriented, socially responsible financial institution and a centre of excellence in African trade matters” by developing opportunities for business development in trade projects and export development finance at the regional level.

The Client Relations Department covers clients of all industries/sectors across Africa to provide integrated financial solutions to clients, with products/services including Corporate Finance, Project Finance, Specialized Funding including ECA Finance, Syndications, Trade Finance and other financial advisory across all sectors.

During the business development process, the client relations associates will work closely with the client managers, product expert teams, execution teams and external professional consultants to deliver viable product/financial solutions to clients.

Reporting to the RCOO FWAF/GMD CLRE, the job holder is responsible for the implementation of Marketing plans, client account plans and strategies.

Your key aim will be to manage an extensive portfolio of customers, acting as a trusted advisor to each of them. You will also be expected to add to your portfolio by targeting prospective customers and building strong relationships with them.

The role is supposed to help the Bank to achieve its mission “stimulating a consistent expansion of and diversification of African trade so as to rapidly increase Africa’s share of global trade, while operating as a first class, profit oriented, socially responsible financial institution and a centre of excellence in African trade matters” by developing opportunities for business development in trade projects and export development finance at the regional level.

The main focus of this position is to proactively engage the Bank’s clients in the Region on an individualized basis to deepen relationships and deliver the Bank’s full product offering.

The role is responsible for building deep relationships with the Bank’s corporate customers and government officials in the region and providing them with the excellent service they have come to expect.

Other responsibilities include managing risk within your portfolio.

Key Responsibilities

1. Preliminary review of clients’ requests/proposals to ensure they meet the Bank’s eligibility criteria, culture and industry trends;
2. Implements client coverage for a given portfolio of clients with deliberate cultivation based on proactive individualized plans. These plans would be developed in coordination with the product teams and should be designed to increase client engagement;
3. Implements regional service coverage for provision of an impeccable client service to each client or government organization. This includes timely turn around in terms of responses to client inquiries;
4. Works with other team members across the Bank’s products and geographies to ensure timely transaction processing;
5. Generate bankable leads through anticipating customer needs and finding out what information, products or services the customer requires to meet his/her needs, providing clear, accurate and relevant information;
6. Ensuring a strong working knowledge of client portfolios / products with the Bank;
7. Resolving customers’ queries within agreed authority;
8. Producing call reports and file notes after any client meetings, summarizing any additional actions required, including follow-up calls and reviewing call reports produced by team members;
9. Sales activity planning, including reviewing existing customer files to identify sales opportunities.
10. Undertaking commercial negotiations;
11. Managing new business pitches;
12. Compliance with legal requirements, industry regulations, organizational policies and professional codes;
13. Assisting in the preparation of annual Regional Strategic and Marketing Plans derived from the Bank’s Strategic Plan for Management’s Approval;
14. Preparing new business Pre-Assessment Memos and Credit Proposals from the region, Product teams and Head Office and making recommendations on the same to the Regional Manager and Director, Client Relations;
15. Where required, representing the Bank in high level meetings, fora and making presentations in conformity with the high standards for which the Bank has become known;
16. Maintaining and improving the Bank’s image across the continent; and
17. Performing any other duties as may be assigned by Senior Management from time to time.
18. Ensure the review, analysis and sensitivities of supporting Financial Statements, projections, Financial Models (English & French);
19. Ensure the collection of information and development of Basic Information Reports, sector/ industry update.
20. Ensure the development of indicative term sheets, Pre-Assessment Memos, Credit Application Memos under the supervision of SM CLRE/RCOO FWAF, Credit Assessment Manager and Product Specialists Teams.
21. Ensure development of terms of reference, RfPs for relevant technical, commercial, insurance and environmental due diligence for requested facility under the supervision of Non-Regional Managers / Senior Managers and Product teams;
22. Build strong relationships with Regional Banks, Regional Corporates operating in Trade Finance, Intra-African Trade, Regional Development Finance Institutions, Investment Houses.
23. Assist in the creation of Marketing and Account plans to address clients’ business needs and increase business development.
24. Ensuring a strong knowledge of the Bank’s products, Economic Drivers in the Region, regulatory environment;
25. Monitoring the performance of portfolio credits through review of triggers, discussing and taking appropriate actions on all identified deviations on assigned credit portfolio
26. Manage onboarding, KYC initiation/renewal and the account opening processes with the relevant Client Managers.
27. Other duties - Perform any other duties as may be assigned by the RCOO FWAF / GMD-CLRE and Bank Management.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Banking, Finance or another relevant field from a recognized University
• Master’s degree in business administration, Banking, Finance or another relevant field from a recognized University.
• Demonstrable analytical, sales, organizational and planning skills.
• Exceptionally good at Excel, Spreadsheet analyst etc. with high ability to produce and analyse all the data for all the Committees.
• Professional other Microsoft Office skills: Word and Power point
• Demonstrable proficiency in English and French
• Previous experience in providing support managing relationships.
• Fair knowledge of the African Market and its Business needs
• Good knowledge of the mechanics of trade instruments such as letters of credit, bills of exchange, IRUs and trade related guarantees.
• Previous experience on-boarding client perform initial screening and KYC assessment.
• Preliminary Financial Analysis Skills
• Good research and analytical skills with an ability to produce high standard reports
• Experienced with the Salesforce or similar CRM platforms
• Ability to communicate and function in a culturally diverse and change oriented setting with good knowledge of banking practices in Africa

Years & Nature of Experience

• Minimum of 8 years’ working experience in a similar role or a job
• Preferably previous experience in the financial services industry or international organization.

TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES

• Ability to communicate and function in a culturally diverse and change-oriented setting.
• Innovativeness, resourcefulness and ability to learn quickly.
• Strong problem-solving skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English, French and preferably Arabic.
• Excellent computer skills in MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel, Salesforce (or any CRM tool) and in SAP.
• Excellent Time keeping skills and ability to put in extra hours as may be required.
• Excellent customer service skills and willingness to devote extra time to work where required.
• Ability to work under minimum supervision and to multi-task.
• High level of integrity and confidentiality.
• Ability to read and comprehend simple instructions, short correspondences and memos, and to draft ready to go memos and reports.

AFREXIMBANK MANDATE

• Experienced professional with significant experience in own field.
• Operates autonomously and is generally responsible for an end-to-end process within its own area, including managing and coordinating people and resources.
• Acts as a first escalation point across Afreximbank for technical queries in its own area and is expected to produce finalised technical material.
• Acts as a subject matter expert in own area, providing technical guidance to colleagues across Afreximbank while maintaining required integrity.
• Coaches, motivates and mentors junior colleagues.
• May have formal line management responsibilities for a limited number of junior professionals and clerical staff.
• Identifies and addresses training needs for the team, including preparing and delivering training programmes as directed by senior management.
• Builds and manages effective working relationships both internally and (where relevant) externally at different organisational levels.
• Influences decisions at functional level and may support external negotiations.
• Presents complex technical information to diverse audiences in a clear and concise manner for purposes of driving results.
• Solves non-routine and occasionally complex problems based on sound critical analysis, technical knowledge and prior experience.
• Acts with flexibility as an escalation point for technical issues encountered by junior colleagues.
• Impacts its own function by managing a specific area or sub-function, including inputting to functional strategy and policies and providing technical expertise, advice and guidance across the organisation.
• Has a solid understanding of Afreximbank’s products and services and how their own area contributes to Afreximbank’s values and mission.
• Has a good knowledge of the Continent’s political, economic and trade landscape and is able to offer well informed opinions on the subject internally and to external counterparts.
• Identifies practical ways in which Afreximbank’s values and mission can be cascaded to junior colleagues and external parties.

Afreximbank’s Core Values:

• Commitment to Africa and supporting the emancipation and empowerment of Africans
• Uncompromising integrity
• Passion for Learning and Drive
• Teamwork
• Trust and Respect for the Individual
• Innovation, Excellence and Flexibility
• Professionalism and Responsiveness

KEY INTERACTIONS

• Other CLRE Team members across all regions
• Staff across the whole Bank’s departments including product departments, Admin, INTE, Human resources, Banking Operations & Finance
• Upon request, the candidate should be able to communicate with clients and external stakeholders to organize internal meetings at the Bank or meetings during staff missions to various countries. The candidate should have the ability to gather information from clients if requested by the MD-CLRE related to facilities or any other type of communication as may be requested by line managers.