About the organisation
The African Export Import Bank (the “Bank”) was established in Abuja, Nigeria in October, 1993 by African Governments, African private and institutional investors as well as non-African financial institutions and private investors for the purpose of financing, promoting and expanding intra-African and extra-African trade. The Bank was established under the twin constitutive instruments of an Agreement signed by member States and multilateral organizations, and which confers on the Bank the status of an international multilateral organization; as well as a Charter, governing its corporate structure and operations, signed by all Shareholders. The authorized share capital of the Bank is Five Billion United States Dollars (US$5 billion).
Role based in Cairo, Egypt
About the role
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 developing opportunities for business development in trade projects and export development finance at the regional level.
Reporting to the Director Client Relations, the job holder is responsible for leading and providing direction to the Client Relations Managers’ in the region on implementation of business plans, client account plans and strategies; managing a strong team of client relations bankers and accountable for the overall P&L of the Business.
The Client Relations Department covers clients of all industries/sectors across Africa to provide integrated financial solutions to clients, with products/services including Corporate Finance, Project Finance, Specialised Funding including ECA Finance, Syndications, Trade Finance and other financial advisory across all sectors.
Nature & scope
The position holder will be required to implement the Bank’s strategy as set by senior management, overseeing and coordinating all technical specialisms and people matters and deputizing the Director of Client Relations when required.
The position holder will be expected to supervise Client Relations Managers and Associates and manage the most complex client portfolios, regions and transactions, acting as an escalation point for all technical queries.
The position holder will also be required to identify the Bank’s key/core customers in each region and draw up the annual strategic and marketing plans for the geographic region and lead the implementation of the plans for the achievement of the Bank’s objectives in these areas.
Duties and responsibilities
- Implementing strategies for entering various segments of the trade finance market and investment banking in the region;
- Leading implementation of marketing plans as approved by the Bank and actively securing mandates and business in the region;
- Preparation of an annual Regional Strategic and Marketing Plans derived from the Bank’s Strategic Plan for Management’s Approval;
- Compliance with legal requirements, industry regulations, organisational policies and professional codes;
- Managing new business pitches;
- Undertaking commercial negotiations;
- Sales activity planning, including reviewing existing customer files to identify sales opportunities;
- Reviewing call reports produced by team members and ensuring there is follow-up action conducted;
- Resolving customers’ queries within agreed authority;
- Maintaining a strong working knowledge of client portfolios / products with the Bank;
- Generate bankable leads through anticipating customer needs and finding out what information, products or services the customer requires to meet his/her needs, providing clear, accurate and relevant information;
- Deal team coordination across the Bank’s products and geographies;
- Leads regional Client Relations team members to accomplish functional goals to ensure high level client service. This includes coaching team members;
- Ensures the regional service coverage is customer centric and provides an impeccable client service to each client or government organization. This includes timely turn around in terms of responses to client inquiries;
- Manages a portfolio of clients with deliberate cultivation based on proactive individualized plans. These plans would be developed in coordination with the product teams and should be designed to increase cross selling and client engagement;
- Evaluating and reviewing new business Pre-Assessment Memos and Credit Proposals from the region, Product teams and Head Office and making recommendations on the same to Director Client Relations;
- Representing the Bank in high level meetings, fora and making presentations in conformity with the high standards for which the Bank has become known;
- Maintaining and improving the Bank’s image across the continent; and
- Performing any other duties as may be assigned by Senior Management from time to time.
Skills, Knowledge and Attitude
- Post graduate degree in Business Administration, Banking or Finance from a recognized University or a recognized post graduate professional qualification in Banking;
- Sound experience of at least 10 years with a leading financial services organisation and familiarity with the major trade finance products to be offered to clients especially syndication, co-financing, club deals, correspondent banking products including letters of credit, factoring, forfaiting, structured trade finance, carbon financing, corporate finance risk participations, project-related financing and considerable knowledge of how these work;
- Ability to communicate and function in a culturally diverse and change oriented setting with good knowledge of banking practices in Africa;
- Ability to interact with senior officials of banks, corporates and governments and to represent the Bank in important professional fora where oral presentation of papers will be necessary to high level technical and professional audiences;
- 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); and
- Demonstrated leadership capabilities, including ability to organize and manage human resources to attain goals.