Executive: Stockbroking and Portfolio Management (SPM) at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Summary

• Accountable for formulating and executing Stockbroking and Portfolio Manager (SPM) business strategy and driving sustainable growth through inspirational leadership. Responsible for client acquisition, retention, share of wallet optimisation, driving growth in market share, enterprise development. 
• Accountable for developing and exploiting business opportunities to optimize business profitability and customer satisfaction for the Advice and Investments (A&I) business.
• Work with relevant partners in and outside the bank who form part of the value chain of the business. This includes CIB.

Job Description

• Formulate and execute business strategy for the BU
• Formulate and execute SPM strategy into specific performance objectives in line with Advice and Investments and Relationship Bank strategy.
• Assume ownership (sponsorship) on behalf of SPM for the execution and delivery of assigned strategic objectives defined as part of the BU strategy
• Drive the translation and execution of the BU strategy through PD objectives by contracting deliverables with the team, ensuring the top down filtering of these objectives
• Accountable for achieving consistent and profitable revenue growth with the implementation of the strategic objectives
• Ensure that approval and buy-in is obtained for the overall approach prior to execution by means of presentations and personal interactions to ensure effective change management
• Manage the implementation of the BU plans in order to determine the return on investment (ROI) of the strategy and objectives by stringent analysis of the sales and business performance of the BU
• Contribute to the development of the budget (Short-term Plan), 18-month forecast (MTP) and RAF (Revised Annual Forecast) by providing input on the business plan and conducting sensibility checks on the financials
• Facilitate the formulation and management of BU operational plans via planning sessions with stakeholders including banking and product partners.
• Represent the BU at the Advice and Investments Exco to provide feedback on BU performance and future strategies to increase sales drive.
• Monitor and address BU performance by reviewing relevant MI and removing barriers to achieve targets.
• Review capacity and growth of deployed resources in order to identify where resources should be reallocated, developing a short-, mediumand long-term deployment plan for the province to ensure sustainability of the business
• Serve as the Key Risk owner for BU ensuring the:
• Identification, reporting and management of risks emerging within the business
• Management of remediation actions to address business risks
• Representation on the ERC and other risk-based forums
• Engagement with the risk community to monitor and address focus areas as they emerge
• Business Performance
• Compile, co-ordinate and take overall responsibility of Stockbrokers’ financial budgeting, financial and control and reporting
• Develop and maintain Stockbrokers’ financial plan and budget portfolio, incorporating the Advice and Investments business strategy.
• Distribute and manage the allocation of budget to the various teams (Cost centres) with associated financial control.
• Monitor that financial targets and plans are communicated, monitored, and ultimately met ensuring that a monthly report is generate and communicate to relevant stakeholders.
• Monitor that financial targets and plans are communicated, monitored and ultimately met by ensuring that a monthly report is generated and communicated to relevant stakeholders.
• Identify and manage cost drivers in order to improve cost-to-income ratios.
• Manage the compilation and delivery of timely & accurate financial information in terms of monthly variance, quarterly reports and adhoc requests.
• Facilitate that accurate and timeous delivery of annual financial statements is done as per the required standards
• Compliance and Risk management
• Monitor all business risk activities (including business assurance and operational risk management) within the operating environment through obtaining feedback and providing guidance for tactical plans to ensure compliance to Group standards.
• Provide guidance and ensure alignment between Operational Risk, Compliance and Legal.
• Evaluate deteriorating risk metrics on an ongoing basis in order to provide support & guidance on corrective measures.
• Review open and overdue audit and management assurance action items and agree with the respective business resources to take ownership for closure and issue assurance for selected findings
• Actively review the Detailed Risk and Control Assessments (DRACA's) that have been
• Monitor all business risk activities (including business assurance and operational risk management) within the operating environment through obtaining feedback and providing guidance for tactical plans to ensure compliance to Group standards.
• Ensure that the Wealth Management Manco and staff have sufficient and up-to-date information.
• Promote a culture that reflects the organisation’s values, encourages performance and rewards delivery.
• Develop future leadership within the organisation.
• Promotes talent attraction and retention throughout the organisation.
• Grow business leaders in the function through mentoring activities to build a pipeline of future senior leaders in the Group.
• Perform all other duties as reasonably assigned.
• Customer Retention 
• Engage regularly with the customer experience capability to gain insights and understanding into service-related issues, trends, performance and resulting actions.
• Work with managers to resolve all escalations of client queries and/or complaints within the agreed turnaround times
• Facilitate collaboration between managers to share information on common gaps and quality issues in service delivery.
• Monitor volumes and nature of complaints/queries received to ensure that customer service standards are upheld at a high level.
• Work with managers to develop corrective actions for recurring issues and request in-depth investigations take place
• Liaise closely with the product support teams to monitor turnaround times, support agreements, issue management and performance overview in accordance with agreed service level agreements and product interlocks.

Education and Experience Required

Qualifications Required (Essential):

• B Degree (Hons) in Finance, Investments, Commerce, Accounting or other relevant
• SAIS Membership is required (Stockbroker exam and experience)
• Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Members Exam

Qualifications Required (Preferred):

• Postgraduate/CFA would be advantageous.

Experience Required:

Essential:

• Demonstrate an in-depth and up-to-date understanding of the issues facing the industry.
• Demonstrate understanding of banking and investment products.
• Evidence knowledge of propositions provided to our client base as well as competitors.
• Demonstrating understanding of business disciplines such as sales, marketing, finance, operations, people management and technology.
• Demonstrate experience in management, project management and cultural change, economic, commercial and customer trend awareness.
• 5 years’ experience in the Financial sector which must include proven experience
• 5 years’ experience in managing a Stockbroking environment
• 5 years’ experience on a senior management level in a large corporate

Knowledge & Skills: 

• Leadership Skills
• Analytical Skills
• Stakeholder Management Skills
• Matrix Management Skills
• Financial Management and reporting Skills
• Organisation and business design skills

Competencies: 

• Entrepreneurial and commercial thinking
• Adapting and responding to change
• Coping with pressures and setbacks
• Formulating strategies and concepts
• Deciding and initiating action
• Delivering results and meeting customer expectations
• Leading and supervising
• Working with people