New Job Position at Productive People

OBJECTIVE

He/She will be responsible for the overall supervision and target realisation within the Branch Network of the company.

This will involve the commercial development and liquidity management of the branches. He/She will also ensure the smooth operations of the branches by linking up with the various departments.

Decision making & organisational environment

• Reports to: Chief Operations Manager
• Supervises: Branch Managers
• External relation: This may include: prospects / clients / Market leaders and association / Market authorities (public or private) / Suppliers / Public Administration at the local level / Bank(s) / External Auditors and Supervision when applicable
• Internal relations: Peer Network Supervisors / Operations Department / Human Resources Department / IT department / Logistics Department / Internal Audit Department, and their relevant sections (e.g. Finance/Treasury, or HR/Training)
• Work Location: At the Head Office / 80% of the time devoted to field activities in the branches

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS 

1.  Commercial activities

• To participate in the definition of the branches objectives with the Chief Operations Manager and the Branch Managers, to make sure they are known and understood by the Branch Managers and the branch staff
• To propose and organize prospecting and communication actions in the intervention area of the branches (markets and commercial areas) by assigning tasks and targets to branch managers and beyond to client officers and client assistants, so that objectives and targets are reached in a timely manner (qualitative and quantitative results both on deposit and lending sides), and by participating occasionally to such actions notably when they involve market authorities, representatives of association or other informal group leaders among clientele
• To make sure at the branch level that the specific communication activities that may be implemented at the company’s level (e.g. special promotional activities on a given product) are implemented
• To participate in the clients’ needs identification and in proposals of new products/services to the management of the company (field visits, regular meetings with commercial staff) and to maintain on-going market intelligence activities with special attention to competition
• To monitor the results of commercial development activities, to analyse them with Branch Managers and Chief Operations Manager, and to propose corrective actions or new initiatives that may support the achievement of objectives

2.  Lending activities

• To support Branch Managers so that the overall branch portfolio develops in accordance with targets set by the management, both in terms of quantity and quality
• To survey that loan applications and loan appraisals are processed according to the company’s standard (cf. policies, procedures and guidelines), with special regard to completeness and accuracy of documentation (both  for paperwork and for data processing in the Management Information System – MIS)
• To participate occasionally in the loan committee meetings for decision making on loans (approval, conditional approval, adjustments in terms of loan features, decline, approval for files above BM limits[C3]  ) and to ensure a regular review of decisions made to assess adherence to policies, procedures and guidelines (including environmental and social policy), and take corrective action if needed. 
• To monitor the loan portfolio and to follow the timely repayments by using the ad-hoc reports, and to make sure the relevant steps are taken to organize and follow results of recovery actions in case of late repayments, especially the loans below PAR 90 , and ensure cooperation with the Recovery unit for loans for PAR above 90 days or in “ Event of Default”

3.  Savings and deposits activities

• To ensure that deposits products and services are marketed by the branches, and quantitative and qualitative results are met in a timely manner
• To ensure that sample reviews on client registration and account opening process are run in line with policies, procedures and guidelines (both paper work and data processing in the MIS), with special attention to be given to Know Your Customer – KYC and Anti Money Laundering Policy
• To analyse the development of the savings activities of the branches (e.g. number of accounts, of active accounts, analysis of operations, flows and balances), to propose to management and have branches implementing when/as approved specific actions that would enhance marketing and development of the deposit portfolio.
• To ensure regular reviews of cash flows on the deposit accounts for AML purposes; to report to the Head of Compliance & Risk  should any suspicious behaviour be noted?

4.  Cash Management activities

• To ensure that the branches always handles sufficient liquidities in order to guarantee a smooth processing of transactions (e.g. withdrawal on deposits, loan amounts withdrawals), while keeping below the maximum authorised amount. To ensure that such liquidity levels are anyhow not in excess considering expected in-flows and out-flows, and in such a case operate deposit with partner bank(s) to limit exposure to robbery and to maximise return of liquidities
• To ensure sample reviews on daily client cash transactions at the teller counter are performed in line with the cash management procedures (e.g. management of in- and out-flows between tellers, between teller’s tills and main vault), and that clients cash deposits and withdrawals are handled by tellers in line with the said procedures
• To perform occasionally checks of cash in hand at the tellers’ level and at the main vault level
• To check that any cash in excess or shortage are documented, and to refer when applicable to the Audit Department and Operation Manager.
• To ensure that the management of critical keys (strong room, safe) is handled as per procedures and that any change in keys’ custody is documented as per procedure
• To review from time to time that the Branch Managers’ petty cash management remains in the limits stated by the management, in order to ensure a smooth supply of the branch in terms of miscellaneous supplies of goods or services. Should the petty cash management be handed over to some supervisee, to ensure that this supervisees manage efficiently the petty cash in a transparent manner
• To check that the management of the relations with the partner bank’s (or banks’) branch(es) is run according to procedures, i.e. signature of cheques with special attention to the delegation rules as established by the management. To ensure that fund transfers from or to the partner bank are ensured with respect to procedures (e.g. mandatory use of a fund transfer company services beyond a given threshold)
• To check the management of cash collection on the field, and occasionally participate in such events. 

5.  Reporting Activities

• To ensure that the required and accurate operational reports (prospecting activities, commercial results) are delivered by Branch Managers to Operations Department in a timely manner
• To ensure that the standard set of documents supporting cash management activities are delivered by Branch Managers to the Finance Department as per requirements (accuracy, frequency)
• To make sure that Branch Managers provide the branch staff, through regular weekly meetings, with the key operational results and analysis of these results, with recommendation for specific actions as dictated by the analysis; to provide the Branch Managers with regular updates on main directions and guidelines as provided by the management
• To ensure to deliver feedback report towards visited branches

6.  Risk Management activities

*        To ensure particularly that a sufficient time is devoted to field visits to clients, in order to confirm their existence, the reality of their businesses, and to assess that the overall documentation on the clients is accurate and comprehensive, with particular attention to any potential or current loan

*        Overall, to identify and analyse any potential issue that may hamper the development of the branch activity, to refer to and propose to possible solutions 

7. Overall Managerial activities

*        To make sure that the overall branch activities are well planned, (or stick to the standard plan as established by management) i.e. scheduling loan committee meetings, weekly meetings with the branch staff, specific meetings with such or such type of staff or individuals according to needs, mandatory cash controls, level of improvised field visit to ensure, data processing for reports, training on innovations or refreshment on existing topics, etc. (and to ensure a strict follow-up of such schedules)
*        To develop a structured knowledge of small businesses developmental issues, for an improved performance of each branch and of the company

*        To make sure the branch overall appearance is conducive to the development of activities
*        To provide on-going coaching and mentoring of the Branch Managers by maintaining regular discussions both in the branch and in the field

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA

He/She shall demonstrate:

*        Ability to meet objectives (quantitative and qualitative) determined by the Operations Department; ability to bring the branches to breakeven in terms of cost/expense ratio, and to make them contribute to the overall company’s profitability.
*        Ability to represent Advans Nigeria Head Office in the branches and their intervention areas by demonstrating professionalism and dynamism, and to develop a valuable knowledge of his/her intervention area, gaining respect and confidence from the branch managers, branch staff, and clientele
*        Ability to communicate clearly with clientele, staff under supervision and management at the head office level, both orally and in written
*        Ability to apply and make apply by staff the official policies, procedures and guidelines
*        Ability to anticipate, identify, and analyse issues that may hamper the development of the branch
*        Ability to ensure a regular and transparent reporting to superiors, and to propose new initiatives for overall business development

Desired Skills and Experience