Head of Credit

Head of Credit & Risk (Drafting / Policies / Collections) - Johannesburg North, South Africa

**Reference Number**: NKBF-HCAR-01

Our client is looking for someone to take overall control and responsibility for Group Credit & Risk Policies. This will include the likes of drafting/recommending/amending/updating/implementing changes required to the Group credit, risk and collections strategies to ensure that they remain relevant in terms of balancing risk perceptions and appetites with new business requirements. They are looking for someone who is self-assured and has a confident manner, in addition to having proven leadership and communication skills. This person will be reporting to the Chief Executive Officer.

**Responsibilities**:
Taking overall control and responsibility for Group Credit & Risk Policies. This will include drafting/recommending/amending/updating/implementing changes required to the Group credit, risk and collections strategies to ensure that they remain relevant in terms of balancing risk perceptions and appetites with new business requirements.
Monitoring legislative and compliance matters in all countries of operation and assisting the senior management team and board of directors in each country of operation to ensure compliance to applicable legislation in all countries of trade and to reduce the risk of failed collections by implementing appropriate interventions.
Maintaining awareness of regional, international and market segment risks that might impact the overall payment and collections performance and taking appropriate action to prevent or reduce the impact thereof to the business.
Conducting periodic reviews of historic collections results and trends, analysing same and making recommendations to the Technical Advisory Committee (“TAC”) to adjust and/or amend credit policies, collections mechanisms and/or collections processes based on the interpretation of such information.
Playing a leading role in the ongoing development of the Group's collections platforms, systems, and solutions to ensure that our systems are continually refined and enhanced to ensure that our collections systems continually provide the Group with a competitive advantage. This will include periodic reviews of current workflows aimed at continuous enhancement of same to improve outcomes.
Developing, maintaining, and owning risk models per product and per country, and drawing intelligence from same to periodically review outcomes.
Forming the bridge between senior management and local or regional management and motivating and influencing regional/country collections teams to perform at required levels.

**Key deliverables**:
Lead and guide central and regional collection teams to achieve and maintain a collections rate as budgeted.
Provide appropriate budget inputs to setting of these collections rates and targets.
Ensure the correct collections strategies are defined and implemented across all countries and silos to maintain loan book impairments within budgeted rates.
Be the custodian of all policies and procedures relating to credit granting, collections, and general business conduct to ensure compliance to the legislation and corporate governance.
Maintain responsibility for the recruitment, retention, and performance management of all collections personnel across the Group and ensure the collections team are adequately staffed and incentivised to deliver the expected results.
Source, contract and supervise all collections, trace, and legal partners to ensure efficient external collections.
Ensure the availability of timeous, accurate and correctly presented information to support business decision making.

**Maintain responsibility for the following Divisions**:
a. Payment Solutions.

b. Later stage and off payroll collections.

c. Early-stage collections from source.

d. External Debt Collectors (“EDCs”) and Legal Associates.

Assist with the design and development of the collections and reporting utilities of the Group's debtors' management system, aimed at extracting maximum value from same. This will include developing and maintaining scoring models for different products in each country, and continually analysing the results of same to optimize outcomes.
Periodically review the credit policies and procedures at both a group and country level and propose necessary amendments to ensure that they remain relevant and provide the Group's companies with the optimal balance between risk and business volumes.

**Requirements**: Qualification and Skill

A relevant tertiary qualification (such as a B Com or B Com Law Degree) is highly preferred.
Previous experience within Financial Services is essential.
Previous experience within the Microfinance industry will be advantageous.
Extensive experience in developing workflows and scoring models.
Highly computer literate, with extensive experience in data analytics and risk modelling.
A strong command of English, both written and verbal, is a requirement