- To define and lead the strategy for Commercial Credit, maximising the company’s growth, profitability and market share and in alignment with overall business strategy.
- To provide an efficient operational support function to finance and to the organisation, setting and operationalising strategy elements and ensuring seamless and fully integrated service delivery to the business and to all trade partners.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
- Minimum 4-year tertiary qualification in Finance, CTA or B Compt Honours
- Preferable CA(SA)
- At least 5 years of experience in a credit risk management function, in a managerial capacity, with exposure to national and international trends and strategy
- At least 3-5 years of leadership experience in similar positions, in fast-moving industries
- Appropriate level of competence in financial, communication, commercial and operational areas, preferably in a similar environment
- A decent background in insurance
POSITION OUTPUTS
Strategic input:
- Contribute to, challenge and implement the long-term strategy for the Commercial Credit Risk function and ensure alignment of all activities undertaken in the unit to the strategy of Finance and the company
- Define the Commercial Credit strategy for Billing and Collections in alignment with the organisation’s objectives and requirements as well as the Finance Strategy
- Provide input into the business plan to ensure delivery to customers and markets, and to ensure competitiveness on all elements
- Contribute towards long-term forecasts and predictions (2-5 years), analysing trends and highlight areas of the business that may be developed further
- Provide input into reviewing organisational activities and assist in recommending corrective actions if necessary
Operational Planning:
- Translate the Commercial Credit Risk strategy into action plans and drive the execution thereof
- Set operational targets and objectives and align them to the business strategy, considering the long term (1-2 years) implications of actions on the viability of the business from a broader perspective
- Consider the impact of solutions on other areas of the business, as well as the interdependency of units
- Drive best practice, continuous improvement and innovation at process and procedure level within the Commercial Credit Risk unit of Finance and Risk channel
- Construct, implement / fine-tune methods, systems and PPPs to enhance effectiveness and meet organisational goals
- Consider local conditions, as well as competitor activity to create competitive advantage
- Manage resources (people, finances and products), taking local conditions into consideration
Operations and Service Enhancement:
- Maintain accountability for the end-to-end financial risk of Credit Risk within the company
- Define, implement and fine-tune methods, systems and PPP’s to enhance effectiveness and meet organisational goals
- Ensure that all features and functionality of credit administration meet with both customer and operational needs
- Ensure that systems are put in place to monitor and track all performance and key performance area standards of the unit
- Implement and drive quality standard frameworks and ensure that high levels of quality service are maintained and that all areas of Credit Risk operate as close to global best practice as possible
- Participate in and project manage Tenders where appropriate
- Act as main custodian of Commercial Credit Risk contract negotiations
- Ensure continuous improvement of efficiency and effectiveness of support services
- Manage internal risk control
Credit Assessment:
- Define and deploy appropriate systems to facilitate credit assessment process for trade partners (informal, retail, branded and other trade partners)
- Ensure alignment to sales channels and integration of channel propositions
- Define and drive the implementation of credit policies that are regularly calibrated and aligned to risk trends
- Manage and monitor credit risk within the area
- Define processes to facilitate commercial relationships and SLA’s with all channels and partners
- Define and implement fraud detection and management processes and systems to reduce risk
- Analyse industry trends in risk assessment
Credit (debtors) management:
- Define and implement optimal collection processes to optimize collections and minimize bad debt for trade partners
- Define and implement effective collection tools and automation to reduce costs
- Ensure that collection targets are defined and attained
- Define policies that facilitate risk control and encompass legislative and regulatory requirements
- Conduct monthly reconciliation of the debtors book and financial reporting thereof
- Ensure that SLA’s are complied to for all strategic partners
- Ensure that defined terms are implemented and managed for all commercial agreements with customers and partners
- Define, implement and manage para legal processes for the legal area of the unit, liaising with Commercial Legal department as required
- Ensure the effective management of the insurer
- Ensure that financial controls are in place and measured regularly and reported on
- Calibrate all processes and systems to reduce potential risk exposure
- Ensure timely write off of bad debt and the appropriate reporting thereof
Customer Satisfaction:
- Build and maintain solid relationships with all stakeholders
- Adopt a proactive approach to prevent problems from arising in the future
- Align service delivery to changing needs and ensure effective customer and stakeholder management
- Drive continuous improvement as an important element of service delivery
- Ensure customer needs and requirements are satisfied through appropriate systems / processes / procedures being in place and ensuring that they deliver on customer specific strategies
- Identify trends / patterns pertaining to customer requests and needs and filter this information through to the business to continually improve all aspects of service delivery
- Initiate change to continually improve all aspects of service delivery
- Maintain a thorough knowledge of commercial terms of agreements with dealers and franchisees and manage and grow the commercial relationship
- Manage, monitor and control customer-related system efficiencies, and the measurement thereof
- Oversee the establishment of SLA’s with customers and manage the output. Report on delivery and sustainability
Reporting:
- Acts as main conduit to the GM Billing and Credit Risk regarding the performance of the Credit Risk function of Commercial Credit
- Report monthly on the debtors’ book, credit risk assessment and financial controls
- Report on results for the area to the business and to key stakeholders, including the customer-related system efficiencies, the measurement thereof and the impact of poor service on revenues and customer churn
- Report periodically on activities, budget compliance and other aspects of the business as appropriate
Desired Skills:
- Commercial Credit
- Strategy
- credit risk management
- insurance
Desired Work Experience:
- 5 to 10 years
Desired Qualification Level:
- Honours