Manager, Banking Legal Services

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.

Main Responsibilities
Reporting to the Director (Banking Legal Services), the Manager (Banking Legal Services) will assist the Legal Department in ensuring that it contributes fully to the Bank’s mission of 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.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Providing advice to the Bank and its subsidiaries on a broad range of banking and finance matters to ensure delivery of tailored, commercially focused legal solutions.
2. Providing legal and strategic advice to the Bank and its subsidiaries entities on special projects/initiatives and identifying potential legal risks
3. Participating in the planning, organisation and implementation of legal support for business activities of the Bank, research of relevant precedents, presentation of appropriate solutions.
4. Providing guidance on the proper application and interpretation of laws and regulations as applicable to the Bank’s business and ensuring adequacy of controls to mitigate legal and other risks or concerns that may arise thereto
5. Providing assistance in connection with the formulation and implementation of effective legal processes to ensure timely delivery of transaction documentation. and facilitating the development of appropriate forms of standardised documentation/legal precedents.
6. Serving as subject matter expert and key legal advisor to business stakeholders by providing counsel on all aspects of legal matters related to the Bank’s loan products.
7. Serving as Legal stakeholder on internal committees/working groups, managing special projects and engaging with advocacy efforts relating to the Bank’s development mandate.
8. Coordinating the engagement of external legal counsel in order to ensure value for money in the procurement of legal services
9. Providing legal advice to management and staff in all areas of the Bank’s activities and proffering solutions to legal problems, constraints, risks, options, consequences and approaches
10. Providing advice in connection with the Bank borrowings in the international capital and money markets, including the review and negotiation of legal documentation required for the implementation of the Bank’s borrowing strategy and capital markets transactions
11. Providing legal advice on the Bank’s Asset and Liability Management procedures and policies and participating in the work of the Bank’s Asset and Liability Management Committee and its working groups.
12. Providing legal advice on equity participations, grants and other financing and co-financing agreements with other multilateral and bilateral financial institutions and related arrangements.
13. Representing the Bank internally and externally in negotiation, disputes, consultations and other proceedings that require legal representation
14. Working with internal staff and external parties as required by management;
15. Conducting deal appraisals (with provision of input) and legal due diligence exercises on proposed transactions;
16. Preparing a variety of legal documentation including transaction documentation designed to protect the interests of the Bank as lender, borrower and in other capacities.
17. Negotiating a wide range of legal documents with the Bank’s transaction counterparties, under the guidance of management;
18. Providing legal advice to management and staff in all areas of the Bank’s activities and proffering solutions to legal problems, constraints, risks, options, consequences and approaches.
19. Reviewing documentation and assessing legal matters arising from the various financing and non-financing activities of the Bank;
20. Conducting, managing and monitoring the legal workstreams of ongoing transactions.

Compliance Responsibilities

1. Understanding and adhering to the Bank's AML, Regulatory and Conduct Compliance policies and procedures, notably:
   (i) Staff Handbook (has code of conduct provisions)
   (ii) Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Counter Financing of Terrorism and Counter Proliferation Financing
   (iii) Conflicts of Interest and Policies on Staff Involvement in External Engagements/Activities
   (iv) Anti-Bribery & Corruption
   (v) Insider Trading Guidelines

2. Reporting any suspicious or non-compliant activities or matters relating to the Bank’s staff or the customers to the Compliance Department.

3. Completing the Annual Compliance Training/Assessment.

Qualifications and Experience

Minimum Qualifications

A master’s degree in Civil Law from a recognized university

Years & Nature of Experience

1. Professional legal practice and experience of not less than 8 years, with particular emphasis on the Banking and financial services industry. Experience in handling documentation in connection with cross-border trade and project finance transactions, particularly in the following areas: structured trade and corporate finance; project and asset-based finance; guarantees and specialised finance; sovereign lending, and private equity.
2. Ability to communicate and function in a culturally diverse and change oriented setting with good knowledge of banking practices in Africa
3. Ability to interact with senior officials of banks, corporates and governments and to present legal advice on various management issues to the Bank’s senior management
4. Excellent verbal and written communication skills in French and English. Knowledge of one of more of the Bank’s other working languages is an added advantage (i.e., Arabic and Portuguese)
5. Strong skills in drafting a variety of legal documents and communicating complex issues clearly and concisely
6. Familiarity with trade and project finance issues, treasury issues and transnational transactions.
7. Ability to speedily grasp the essence, content and implications of the Bank’s constitutive documents in order to be able to provide advice on them
8. Ability to review under strict deadlines
9. Negotiating skills and capacity to work with other professionals including non-legal professionals to develop innovative solutions to conflicting interests and positions
10. Ability to organise and manage human resources to attain goals.

Technical Competencies

• Proficiency: Specialists or managers with the ability to oversee teams; manage transactions from a legal perspective through the credit value chain; advise internal and external stakeholders and staff; and innovate business practices.
• Leadership Skills: May engage with internal and external stakeholders, representing Afreximbank Group, at third party events and meetings; Contributes to negotiations, primarily in a technical capacity, with firm-wide impact; Proactively explores opportunities for technical or innovative advancements for the Bank; Influences within own team (and occasionally beyond own team) to drive and achieve results.
• Interpersonal Skills: Actively contributes to strengthening network of internal and (where relevant) external relationships by mentoring junior colleagues and presenting technical knowledge to foster collaboration and support project outcomes; Influences decisions at the functional level and contributes to external negotiations, using technical knowledge where required; The ability to articulate complex ideas clearly and succinctly to manage the delivery of projects and communicate information to senior staff members.
• Problem Solving & Business Impact: Uses experience and deeper technical knowledge to identify core issues, analyse complex data and synthesise information to support the development and implementation of strategic solutions; Supports technical initiatives, inputting into strategy and occasionally contributes new ideas to drive innovation.
• Supporting Afreximbank Mandate: Has a substantial understanding of Afreximbank Group’s products and services and how own area contributes to Afreximbank Group’s values and mission; Has good knowledge of the Continent and African Diaspora’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 Group’s values and mission can be cascaded to junior colleagues and external parties.

Behavioural Competencies:

Self-Starter with Minimal Supervision

• Proactive, motivated and able to manage tasks with minimal oversight.
• Timely, detail-oriented and sensitive to deadlines ensuring that assigned tasks are delivered in the right quality.

Team Collaboration and Communication

• A good team player with strong interpersonal skills
• Ability to work as a member of a multidisciplinary and multi-cultural team, work effectively and influence a team, and network effectively across boundaries.
• High level of emotional intelligence and emotional resilience to be a good team player in a diverse legal team.

Leadership Experience

• Strong analytical skills, ability to think strategically, analyse, and synthesize diverse information sources, and draw conclusions from complex materials/publications.
• Experience in conveying complex transactional and legal risk management issues to the Board, Executive Management, and external stakeholders.
• High level of emotional intelligence and emotional resilience;

Skills Knowledge and Attitude

• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English. Knowledge of the Bank's other working languages is an added advantage (French, Arabic, and Portuguese.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office programs including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, and other legal risk management system skills.
• Good project management skills and ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously under tight deadlines.

Internal Change Agent

• Ability to function in a change-oriented setting with good knowledge of legal risk management practices in Africa as well as globally.
• Ability to articulate and promote the Bank’s legal risk management narrative to various internal stakeholders

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:

• Internal: All group functions and subsidiaries including Credit, Risk, Finance, Operations, Treasury, Compliance, Human Resources, Strategy, Digital Business and Origination functions, FEDA, AfrexInsure and PAPSS etc.
• External: External stakeholders as may be requested by the Line Manager and Director including external lawyers, clients, consultants, financing partners, funding partners, etc.