Payments & Receivables Product Manager

The payment and receivables landscape in South Africa is fast evolving, driven in many parts by nascent technology, regulation, innovation and entry of dynamic non bank participants into the marketplace. These changes have catalysed the modernization of the National Payment System and the concomitant digitzation of traditional payment products. It has equally fuelled growth in Alternative Payments and E-Commerce and recently open banking and digital currencies. To take advantage of these changes, clients are also aggressively recalibrating their business models and adopting new products and solutions that introduce efficiencies, visibility and control.

1. Managing (end-to-end) the bank’s payment products with a view to significantly growing share of wallet of our customers’ cash management business and the corresponding revenues.

2. Identifying payment opportunities in the South African market and develop products and processes with a view to significantly encourage the customers to adopt electronic payment methods and digitization initiatives. This will enable straight through processing thereby increasing the capacity of the bank to offer payment services to its customers, reduce operational costs to the bank and increase margins on payment products.

3. Develop partnerships with payment service providers to enable Citi indirectly access mass payment flows and opportunities in non-target market segments of the system.

4. Identify and aggressively drive growth and penetration of new payment channel opportunities in South Africa. Introduce, deploy and drive penetration of file services to improve Citi’s payment proposition.

Key responsibilities:
Leads the overall performance of payments & receivables product suite, and monitors performance drivers for the products and portfolios
- Manages the investment spend strategy and process for incremental and strategic projects
- Leads a team that is responsible for the ongoing performance and maintenance of P& R products, including client experience, pricing, risk and distribution
- Ensures robust connectivity between the cluster and the regional product teams, by communicating important & emerging client, market, regulatory and strategic developments from the cluster to the region, and from the region and global teams, into the cluster teams.
- Ensures sales and relationship managers are trained, and ready to identify client needs, and proposes solutions in line with business objectives
- Shapes and implements performance improvement strategies, with a specific focus on cross-sell and integration, including the development of competitive analyses, market analyses, product development road maps, market plans, pricing strategies and product line extensions
- Champions change by leading innovation through Partnerships and Alliances to quicken product development and commercialization
- Keeps abreast of important developments in financial market infrastructures in the cluster, and shapes Citi's position and voice to achieve progressive development
- Partners closely with sales teams to identify client opportunities and with the client management organization to meet with prospective clients and to size new opportunities
- Gathers market intelligence and develops sophisticated market sizing studies to identify the attractiveness of particular markets segments and product offerings
- Defines and analyzes sector trends, opportunities and issues, and creates business cases to drive investment decisions.
- Represent customer needs and provide strategic direction on product development features, functionality and overall competitiveness
- Build consensus and awareness of value proposition throughout the organization and key partners
- Ensures products are well represented in the distribution channel and to drive various initiatives for growth in specific verticals
- Develops and enhances Product Approval Programs and related processes, ensures products are delivered and adhere to all parameters globally
- Collaborates with cross-functional teams, including technology, operations, legal, implementations, and sales to deliver solutions for Citi clients
- Analyzes vertical/product specific P&L's to ensure goals are being met

Developmental Value:
Manage and coordinate the complexities of multiple geographies and diverse cultures, while leading seasoned leaders. Strong pathway to Regional Product or TTS Cluster leadership opportunity. Exposures to senior stakeholders, influencing strategic thinking and direction. Grow interpersonal skills through multi-geography exposure to partners, build an expansive network within the TTS organization and expand product knowledge and breadth across all the activity spaces and products within TTS and its key partners.

Knowledge and experience:
15+ years of experience, including 8+ years' in leadership or managerial roles
- Demonstrated experience in Product Management and/or Product Development discipline
- Exceptional understanding