Associate, Guarantees and Specialised Finance

Job Description

afrex

The role is supposed to help the Bank to achieve its mission “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” by supporting the Head and Managers in the Specialised Funding Unit with preliminary analysis, record keeping and general administration.

 

Nature & scope

As part of the African Export-Import Bank’s strategy of forging partnerships with African and international institutions to leverage financing into Africa, the Bank created its Syndicated Loans Programme (“SLP”), managed by the Guarantees & Specialised Finance Unit (“GSFI”). The SLP enables the Bank to meet the following broad objectives:

  • Leveraging the Bank’s capital to permit more lending business;
  • Generating incremental fee income (arrangement and other fees);
  • Reduction of risk concentration in the Bank’s portfolio of risk assets; and
  • Introducing the Bank’s clients to International Capital Markets

In implementing the SLP, the team works closely with the Bank’s deal origination and advisory and legal functions to structure and price debt for syndicated trade and project finance transactions that the Bank arranges for its clients in Africa across various sectors, including financial services, telecommunications, energy, metals and minerals, and manufacturing. The Unit also works with Credit and Loan Agency functions of the Band to ensure syndicated deals are closed effectively in accordance with internationally accepted syndication practice

GSFI is also responsible for mobilizing asset-targeted funding from Development Finance Institutions (“DFIs”), Export Credit Agencies (“ECAs”) and non-bank financial institutions (such as credit insurance companies) under the Bank’s ECA Loans Facilitation Programme (“ELFP”) to support medium-to-long-term financing to its clients in Africa.

The team maintains a wide network of co-lending partners, comprising international and African commercial banks, African regional financial institutions, international DFIs and ECAs. The Associate will play an active role in supporting SFU in structuring, underwriting, and distributing syndicated transactions and all activities related to rising asset-targeted funding from ECAs and DFIs in line with the Bank’s objective to SLP and ELFP as core products of the Bank’s service portfolio.

Primary responsibilities include credit proposal assessment, tracking deals/transactions, evaluating deal statistics, departmental and management reporting, managing information flow to ECA/DFI funding partners and co-lenders.  The Associate role shall involve a significant amount of analytical work (quantitative and qualitative) in support of new financing proposals submitted for internal credit approval, bank presentations to its co-financing/risk-sharing partners, ECA/DFI funding entities and clients.

 

Duties and responsibilities

The Associate will also be responsible for managing GSFI’s client and book-running/distribution databases:

  • Debt market monitoring, deal tracking and information gathering (market trends, optimal pricing and debt structures, comparable analyses for prospective transactions) utilizing various databases such as Bloomberg, Reuters Loan-Connector etc
  • Assisting in the preparation of pitch-books/presentations to prospective and existing to support implementation SLP and ELFP as core products in the Bank’s service portfolio
  • Assist in preparing various departmental and management reports under strict deadlines
  • Supporting “preliminary approval to proceed” stage of credit applications (“Pre-Assessment”) by analyzing financial statements and projections, financial models, and relevant project/transaction credit documentation encompassing industry and sector analyses, risks and opportunities.
  • Assist in preparation of Pre-Assessment and Syndication Memoranda submitted for Management/Credit approval
  • Assist in preparation of syndicated deal marketing and distribution information including, lenders presentations, transaction teasers, information memoranda, process letters, etc.
  • Work closely with the Communications department of the Bank to prepare and submit “League table” reports on a timely and regular basis
  • Work with a bank syndicate and assist in deal launch (draft information memorandum, attend bank meetings, prepare pitch books & presentations, etc.)
  • Manage the Bank’s Book running/Syndication database.
  • Assist in preparation of funding proposals submitted to ECAs/DFIs
  • Manage communication flows to ECAs and DFIs

 

 

Skills, Knowledge and Attitude

  • Degree in a relevant field (Economics, Commerce, Finance or Banking) from a recognized University backed up by appropriate experience of at least 5 years. An MBA maybe accepted in lieu of experience.
  • Banking experience preferably in a credit assessment or account relationship management role and familiarity with debt trends in Africa
  • Experience in using debt market research tools including Dealogic, Loan Analytics, Bloomberg and book running platforms such as Intralinks and Debt Domain would be an added advantage
  • Ability to communicate and function in a culturally diverse and change oriented setting;
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and French. Knowledge of the Bank’s other working languages is an added advantage (Arabic and Portuguese).
  • Ability to interact with senior officials of banks, corporates and governments;
  • Good financial analysis and modelling skills
  • Ability to work independently and long hours (if required) in a team-driven environment.
  • Excellent at prioritizing and multi-tasking, as necessary
  • Excellent person-management skills in a multi-cultural setting