Credit Specialist

  • belville
Brief description of the vacancy: The key responsibility will be to evaluate and assess the creditworthiness of businesses seeking loans by utilizing scorecard models, analysing financial data, and applying sound risk management practices to make well-informed credit decisions. In this position, you will be tasked with striking a delicate balance between managing credit risk and achieving our business growth objectives, ensuring we support deserving businesses while safeguarding the interests of our company. Meeting and exceeding SLA requirements for exceptional service delivery will be at the forefront of your responsibilities, as we strive to provide the best possible experience to our clients. The successful candidate will actively collaborate with cross-functional teams, contributing to the development of scorecard models and playing a vital role in supporting the company's overall credit risk management strategy. Experience required: • 2-3 years of experience working in the financial services and/or lending industry • Experience as a Credit Analyst in a scorecard-based environment or a similar role within the financial services industry is a bonus. • Knowledge of commercial credit products, market trends, and/or loan procedures, credit life cycle (up to and including collections). • Familiarity with industry-specific factors influencing credit risk, such as market trends, regulatory changes, and economic conditions. • Understanding credit bureau data, credit scoring methodologies, and regulatory compliance. • Experience in monitoring and analyzing the performance of existing credit accounts to assess credit quality, identify trends, and manage credit risk exposure. • Familiarity with credit policies and guidelines, ensuring credit decisions align with the established risk appetite. • Knowledge of loan administration, accounting, and banking applications/software. Qualifications required: • Honours degree in Finance / Accounting / Mathematics or related. • Preferred: CA(SA)/ACCA/CIMA • NQ8 • The candidate does not need to be a qualified CA (they can be on their way to being a CA or have not completed articles). Computer Skills required: • Strong understanding of data modelling concepts and techniques. • Proficiency in SQL and knowledge of database systems will be advantageous Key Responsibilities (KPI’s) Credit assessment • Credit Assessment: Review and analyse credit applications from customers (business), to determine their creditworthiness based on scorecard models and established risk criteria which includes quantitative and qualitative information. • Financial Analysis: Conduct financial analysis for large loans, assessing the creditworthiness of applicants by examining financial statements, credit reports, and other relevant data sources. • Risk Evaluation: Evaluate risk factors associated with each credit application and make well-informed decisions on the appropriate credit limit, interest rate, and other relevant terms. Loan origination process • Compliance: Ensure strict adherence to the credit policy and credit processes to maintain regulatory compliance and minimize risk exposure. • Process Optimisation: Continuously evaluate and refine the credit granting processes with a strong emphasis on enhancing efficiency and reducing turnaround times, all while staying within the established credit risk appetite. • Alignment and Training: Facilitate alignment among reviewers and foster effective communication between reviewers and analysts through thorough quality reviews, constructive feedback, and comprehensive training initiatives. This collaborative approach ensures consistency and accuracy in credit assessments. • Operational efficiency: Provide input into monthly reviewer schedules and ensure sufficient capacity to review loan applications. Monitoring • Portfolio Monitoring: Monitoring the performance of existing loans in the portfolio. • Monthly Credit Pack: Provide input for the monthly credit reporting, focusing on portfolio quality, delinquencies, and credit risk exposure. • Defaulted Loan Reviews: Conduct comprehensive reviews of defaulted loans to identify trends and risks that can help improve and refine credit criteria. • Quality Monitoring: Ensuring diligent quality monitoring of reviews to guarantee compliance with credit policy and processes, maintaining alignment and consistency. Onboarding of new Reviewers • Training Induction Program: Design and maintain the training induction program tailored for new Reviewers. • Onboarding and On-the-Job Training: Oversee the onboarding process and provide comprehensive training and continuous on-the-job support for new Reviewers. • Follow-Up Training: Conduct follow-up training sessions with new Reviewers to ensure adherence to the proper review process and identify any additional training needs before training sign-off. • Updated Training Manual: Keep the training manual for new Reviewers up to date and ensure that it reflects the latest practices and information. • Supporting Loan Analysts: Offer guidance and mentorship to Loan Analysts, particularly in understanding financial statements, management accounts, and SARS liabilities for high-value applications. Training • Monthly Reviewers' Workshops: Contribute to monthly workshops aimed at facilitating knowledge exchange and feedback between the Analyst and Reviewer teams. Providing guidance to ensure adherence to standards will be an essential part of these sessions. • Continuous Financial Upskilling: Ensuring continuous financial upskilling of team members, both new and existing, is a key priority in your role. This will contribute to a high level of expertise within the team. • Administrative Functions: Manage all administrative aspects related to training, such as maintaining training registers and updating training manuals, to ensure an organized and effective training process. General • Training and Development: Stay up-to-date with industry trends, best practices, and emerging technologies in credit risk management, and share knowledge within the team. • Continuous Improvement: Contribute to ongoing process improvement initiatives, including refining credit scoring models, automating processes, and enhancing data analytics capabilities. • Collaboration: Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including sales, operations, legal and business development teams to optimize credit processes and enhance overall credit risk management strategies. • Customer Service: Maintain a customer-centric approach while managing credit-related inquiries and providing support to internal and external stakeholders.