Head of Agency Banking and Strategic Partnerships at Absa May, 2023

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With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group.

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Job Summary

• To Interact with Branch Sales and Workplace banking Channels to grow a sustainable Absa agents’ network
• To lead and deliver on all projects related to Agency Banking and other retail strategic partnerships
• To research, develop, implement, and monitor strategic partnerships for Retail Bank including agency banking channel.
• To manage stake holders to ensure Agents have 100% for the supplies and merchandise required
• To be the primary contact person for all Agent and partners related issues
• Preparation of revenue, business analytics and service reports
• To review recommend and implement new product developments and enhancements to the existing product set and services offered through strategic partnerships managed under retail banking division.
• To be the main point of contact for retail banking strategic partnerships related business matters
• Responsible for Planning, monitoring, and setting strategic direction for retail banking in collaboration with Head of Retail Products & Strategy and the overall Head of Retail Banking.

Job Description

Job Responsibilities

Channel/ Strategic Partnership Management

70% of the total time

Lead Agent Banking and strategic partnerships operations and ensure maximum performance of the Agent Banking Network
Design, plan and formulate strategies to achieve business goals targeting Agency Banking propositions and other strategic partnerships in retail banking
Boost overall business performance of Absa Agency Banking Network
Travel extensively to different branches/agent points across the country to enhance business portfolio of Agent Network
Develop and agree income targets to be generated through Agency Banking Channels as well as different strategic partnerships.
Complete service research, development and implementation related to channels offerings in line with the market demand.
Interface with other key stakeholders of the bank such as branches, Workplace Banking, Operations, digital channels, Technology, Retail Credits and Marketing daily to ensure there is a broad understanding of the service offering requirements and frictionless acceptancy of the Absa Wakala and drive aggressive uptake to market.
Channels Campaigns and service /sales activations to support sales channels
Responsible for Channels service pricing and revenue shares with strategic partners
Competitor offering review and market intelligence to enhance service features and benefits
Build Innovative market leading solutions for the channels and strategic partners
Identify strategic partnerships and alliances and partnerships to grow market share and brand visibility

Channel/ Strategic Partnership Governance and Control

20% of the total Time

Implementing the policy, guidelines, and circulars for Absa Agency Banking
Monitor and ensure all compliance related to Agency Banking are well observed for Absa Wakala
Prepare monthly financial performance reports of the Channels and Strategic Partnerships
Review a customer satisfaction surveys to identify channel related issues. Create action plans and implement changes to address such issues.
Conduct snap checks to ensure agent adherence to required agency banking policies, procedures and regulations.
Monitor adherence to agreed sales processes by conducting regular walk-through audits and checking documentation requirements.
Channels profitability models and ongoing margin management to ensure correct focus on profitability
Income leakage management forum to ensure correct mapping and income flows from different partners
Monthly review and escalation of conduct risk related to Agency Banking and Channels

Product Training

10% of the total Time

Identify product training needs or skills gaps and ensure that the local Learning and Development team are made aware of the training needs for Agency Banking.
Source training material for Agency Banking onboarding and operations requirements.
Staff training and education
Customer product/service awareness
Customer education drive on Agency banking usage and adoption
Merchandising and agent profiles to be owned and driven by Agency Banking and strategic partnership team.

Risk and Control Objective

In the event of major issues in the Agency Banking unit, act as crisis coordinator and allocate tasks to the crisis teams.
Review the risk and compliance profiles of the agency banking unit on a regular basis and provide consultative support to the Head of Retail Banking on changes that are required to rebalance risk and reward where required.
Understanding of own role in the end to end processes in which you play a part, including applicable risks and controls.
Adhere to Absa’s policies and procedures applicable to own role, demonstrating sound judgment and responsible risk management.
Keep up to date on all regulatory changes and have the ability to articulate the impact to the Business, be well informed on the industry thinking.
All mandatory training completed to deadline.

Technical skills / Competencies

Minimum 5 years of banking experience including at least 3 years in Agent Banking at a senior position
Business skills, financial and data analysis and business performance management with strong marketing background
Having in-depth knowledge on banking regulatory framework and guidelines on Agent Banking and other strategic partnerships
Proven success records in Agent Banking
Ability to lead and work independently, consult and clarify where necessary and make informed and firm decisions
Having excellent oral and written skills as well as sound computer literacy
Strong analytical and numerical skills for calculation of statistics needed in performance tracking
Well developed project management skills
People management, organizational and leadership abilities
A good understanding of Risk, Compliance policies and procedures
Process driven and can implement structure where there is little or none

Knowledge, Expertise and Experience

Essential

Having in-depth knowledge on banking regulatory framework and guidelines on Agent Banking and other strategic partnerships
A comprehensive knowledge and sales skills related to agency banking proposition
A detailed understanding of service offerings in the wide financial services industry related to Agency Banking proposition and strategic partnerships to drive innovations.
Knowledge of Absa strategy and policies.
Detailed knowledge of consumer behaviour, marketing techniques and evolving trends.
A detailed understanding of local industry advisory, regulatory and professional bodies.

Preferred

A person already holding experience in Senior Executive role related to Agency Banking Channels

Absa Values

Absa Values and Behaviors represent the set of standards which governs the actions of all of us who work for the bank and against which the performance of every one of us in Absa are being assessed and rewarded: