Senior Credit Officer: Credit Origination x6

The role is responsible for the origination and structuring of complex credit transactions across various sectors, e.g.

infrastructure, sovereign, sub-sovereign, public sector projects for investment considerations in South Africa, the Rest of

Africa and High Impact. This role is instrumental in ensuring that new transactions align with the DBSA's mandate, risk

appetite and strategic objectives. Applying technical and commercial expertise, and legal knowledge, the role supports

decision-making by appraising new transactions, through conducting due diligence, credit assessment of financial and

non-financial risks, financial modelling and well-structured credit risk mitigation strategies. This role interacts closely with

the Business teams and various Sector and Country Specialists in the origination process.

Key Performance Areas:

Deal Origination and Structuring

• Appraise the origination of complex credit transactions from a pipeline of potential projects sourced by the
  
  Business teams, assessing transactions against the Bank's risk appetite.
• Appraise, structure transactions to optimise risk-adjusted returns whilst achieving development impact.
• In conjunction with the Business teams, engage internally with project teams and externally with borrowers,
  
  government entities, project sponsors, and other key risk-transfer / credit enhancing stakeholders to assess
  
  optimal financing needs and develop tailored solutions.
• Provide credit advisory at inception, deal screening or early review stages for indicative quantification of credit.
• Serve as a key member of the project team during appraisal stage, deal implementation and financial close
  
  stages in pursuit of achieving the Bank's key corporate and strategic objectives.
• Serve as a key member of the project team to develop innovative risk mitigation structures (e.g. blended finance
  
  instruments, sustainable finance instruments, credit enhanced structures).
• Conduct market and industry research as needed to inform risk assessment and credit decision-making.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary sector experts and other teams to support client solutioning and the credit
  
  application process.

Credit Assessment, Financial Analysis and Risk Mitigation

• Undertake in-depth credit and financial analysis and due diligence on prospective transactions.
• Identify, mitigate and manage key quantitative and qualitative risks facing a prospective transaction.
• Apply credit rating methodologies aligned to underlying transaction structures to ensure that the credit profile is
  
  adequately encapsulated the risk-adjusted returns per policies.
• Contribute to due diligence activities, where required, including site visits, stakeholder interviews and due
  
  diligence data collection and synthesis.
• Collaborate with business, legal, technical and ESG teams to ensure comprehensive transaction evaluation.
• Prepare investment memos for new appraisals that succinctly communicates the overall credit opinion and
  
  recommended terms and conditions of the prospective transactions.
• Undertake in-depth financial and cash-flow analysis of portfolio companies, evaluating performance against initial
  
  projections and market benchmarks.
• Review portfolio performance reports, incorporating peer comparisons, sectors developments, and
  
  macroeconomic conditions affecting the Bank.
• Assess amendments to credit terms and provides recommendations for restructuring, covenant waivers, or
  
  rescheduling proposals as required.
• Conduct scenario analysis and stress testing on key exposures, feeding insights into credit risk appetite and
  
  capital allocation decisions.
• Support efforts to enhance risk-adjusted return through innovative solutioning of the prospective deal flow.

Financial Modelling and Analysis

• Build and/or review and challenge model assumptions in financial models for prospective transactions.
• Conduct cash flow analysis, stress testing, and scenario analysis to test financial viability and draw conclusions
  
  / make recommendations to mitigate financial risks identified.
• Assess financial compliance of key financial terms and/or recommend and implement credit risk mitigants (e.g.
  
  conditions, covenants, collateral, guarantees), as required.
• Perform peer benchmarking and sectoral credit comparisons in order to provide valuable insights for the review
  
  of the financial modelling assessment.

Portfolio Integration

• Ensure seamless transition of approved transactions into portfolio management.
• Monitor early-stage performance, facility and/or covenant compliance during onboarding of new clients.
• Provide feedback to portfolio, origination and risk teams on original learnings and risk signals.
• Maintain credit-related compliance with internal policies, regulatory standards, and investment mandates across
  
  all geographies.
• Maintain up-to-date credit ratings and internal loan classifications of new transactions, where required, prior to
  
  transition into portfolio management.

Strategic Engagement and Governance

• Liaise with teams to ensure seamless handover and continuous oversight of transactions post-disbursement.
• Support governance reporting by contributing to reports for Board committees, EXCO, and relevant committees.
• Participate in the maintenance and improvement of the credit value chain, identifying process inefficiencies and
  
  supporting enhancements to credit systems.
• Support audits by preparing necessary reports and documentation in line with best practice and standards.

Reporting and Monitoring

• Produce accurate, insightful reports that express key financial and non-financial metrics and analysis to support
  
  credit opinions for decision-making.
• Analyse data to identify trends, inform strategic decisions, and provide stakeholders with clear, actionable
  
  information that supports ongoing performance improvement and accountability.
• Utilise appropriate technologies and tools to enhance reporting efficiency and clarity, while also safeguarding the
  
  confidentiality and sensitivity of the information included.
• Maintain high standards of accuracy and timeliness to deliver reports that are timely, relevant and precise.

Key Measurements of Outputs:

• Percentage and number of credit memos for appraisals completed on time and in line with internal standards.
• Precision of internal credit ratings aligned with appropriate model methodologies and validated through backtesting
  
  or audit reviews.
• Timely identification of early warning indicators, escalating and actioned for new transactions in appraisal or deal
  
  implementation stage.
• Number of breaches identified and resolved and compliance rate for new facility agreements being onboarded.
• Average time taken to complete normal urgent risk assessment and recommend amendments or waivers.
• Quality of financial models built or reviewed, stakeholder feedback on model accuracy and usefulness for
  
  decision-making.
• Percentage of reports submitted on time with no material errors; percentage of submissions deferred as a result
  
  of substandard quality.
• Feedback from internal and external stakeholders on quality, communication, responsiveness, and problemsolving
  
  support.

Qualifications and Experience:

Qualifications

• Degree in Economics, Finance, Accounting, Business Administration or Risk Management or related field.

Experience

• Minimum of 8 years' experience in credit risk analysis, portfolio monitoring, or financial analysis within
  
  wholesale/investment banking or a development finance environment.
• Proven proficiency in credit analysis, financial modelling, and application of credit rating methodologies across similar
  
  credit portfolios.
• Strong capability in financial statement analysis, credit risk assessment, and the application of risk mitigation
  
  principles.
• Familiarity with development finance instruments and structured finance solutions is advantageous.
• Sound understanding of the credit lifecycle and loan value chain processes.
• Awareness of macroeconomic and political risk factors impacting country and credit risk is beneficial.
• Experience in credit origination, investment analysis, or structured finance is a plus.
• Demonstrated credit reasoning and credit writing skills.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to present complex concepts clearly and effectively.
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships, collaborate in teams, and manage stakeholder interactions effectively.

Desirable Requirements

• Experience working with municipalities, government programmes, or development finance institutions.
• Understanding and experience of sovereign risk, infrastructure finance, and public sector lending.
• Postgraduate degree in Finance, Economics, Accounting or a related field.
• Professional certification in Financial Risk Management, Chartered Financial Analysis or CA (SA) or equivalent.
• Familiarity with ESG, blended finance, and development impact frameworks.

Technical Competencies:

Risk identification & Assessment / Technical

• Diagnoses significant, unusual and emerging risks to which the business is exposed.
• Advises on applicable aspects of risk identification and assessment.
• Demonstrate advanced proficiency and up-to-date knowledge in specialised areas, applying this expertise to
  
  solve problems, drive innovation, and contribute to strategic initiatives.
• Continuously expanding skills to adapt to industry advancements and enhance organisational capabilities.
• Maintain high standards of quality and reliability, contributing to the seamless achievement of objectives.

Risk management policies and procedures

• Develops innovative approaches to managing significant business risks effectively and efficiently.
• Leads implementation, execution and monitoring activities.
• Advises on best solutions and foresees the impact of changes in regulations, policies and procedures for noncomplex
  
  and business issues.

Data collection and analysis

• Skilled in the use of analytical techniques.
• Is able to use judgement to decide upon the most appropriate analytical techniques according to the situation.
• Recognises underlying principles, patterns, or themes in an array of related information, and determine
  
  whether additional information would be useful or necessary.
• Through an in-depth understanding of the business environment, reviews outputs of analysis to identify
  
  anomalies and draws conclusions, relating these to operational circumstances.
• Can model a range of scenarios covering all potential business circumstances and highlight potential risks/
  
  opportunities.

Planning and organising

• Is relied on to helps others plan and organise their workload.
• Uses effectively advance time management processes to deal with high workload and tight deadlines.
• Organises, prioritises and schedules tasks so they can be performed within budget and with the efficient use
  
  of time and resources.
• Achieves goals in a timely manner, despite obstacles encountered, by organising, reprioritising and replanning.

Financial acumen

• Makes sound financial decisions after having analysed their impacts on the organisation, partner agencies,
  
  and community.
• Awareness of utilising department budgets must be done in the most cost-effective ways.
• Understands management accounting reports and the processes by which financial resources are identified,
  
  obtained, allocated, managed, and accounted for.
• Is able to interpret management account reports in an operational/commercial context and take action as
  
  appropriate to maximise revenues and control costs.

Financial Modelling

• Demonstrating expertise in developing, analysing, and interpreting financial models to support strategic
  
  decision-making and business planning. This involves creating accurate and reliable models that forecast
  
  financial performance, assess business scenarios, and evaluate investments or projects.

Reporting

• Prepares both standard and non-standard reports to time and quality standards.
• Collate and analyses readily available data for inclusion in a report.
• Designs / customises reports to meet user needs.

Leadership/Behavioural Competencies:

Achievement Orientation

• Focuses on new or more effective ways of improving own work and meeting targets.
• Focuses on raising quality, customer satisfaction and revenues.
• Makes specific changes to systems and processes in order to improve efficiency and quality.
• Formulates own objectives and action plans in order to achieve a measurable improvement in the future.

Customer Service Orientation

• Tries to understand the underlying needs of customers and matches these needs to available or customised
  
  products and services.
• Adapts processes and procedures to meet on-going customer needs.
• Utilises the feedback received by customers, in order to develop new and/or improve existing services/
  
  products that relate to their on-going needs.
• Thinks of new ways to align DBSA's offerings with future customer needs.

Self-awareness and Self-Control

• Withholds effects of strong emotions in difficult situations.
• Keeps functioning or responds constructively despite stress.
• May apply special techniques or plan ahead of time to manage emotions or stress.

Attention to Detail

• Double-checks the accuracy of information or work.
• Ensures that the work produced doesn't contain any errors.

Analytical Thinking

• Identifies the cause-and-effect relationship between two aspects of a situation.

Strategic and Innovative Thinking

• Experiments with new approaches, tests scenarios, questions assumptions and challenges conventional
  
  thinking.
• Creates new concepts that are not obvious to others, leveraging internal and external sources of information,
  
  to build incremental revenue and growth opportunities.

Teamwork and Cooperation

• Acts to promote a friendly climate and good morale and resolves conflicts.
• Creates opportunities for cross-functional working.
• Encourages others to network outside of their own team/department and learn from their experience.