Manager Collections Strategy Credit Risk at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Summary

• The role is responsible for providing complex, specialist advice and support in the development and enhancement of best practice strategies across the Collections and Recoveries landscape, with a strong emphasis on Personal Loans.
• This includes leading the end-to-end development, implementation, and monitoring of collections, high-risk account management, and recoveries strategies to drive optimal performance and maintain outcomes within risk appetite.
• The incumbent will act as a subject matter expert in risk product management, enabling the business to embed leading-edge predictive techniques and advanced modelling capabilities.
• The ultimate goal is to deliver sustainable improvements in collections efficiency, recovery rates, and overall portfolio health, ensuring the organisation maintains a competitive and strategic advantage in a dynamic risk environment.

Job Description

Strategy, Planning and Risk Management

• Lead the adoption of leading-edge customer collection strategies in Personal Loans, including pre-collections (high-risk account management), pre-legal, legal, and off-balance sheet.
• Develop and/or optimize collections and high-risk account management strategies (preventing a customer rolling into collections) using SAS-based techniques, predictive modelling, and scorecard analytics to maximize collections performance.
• Includes full ownership of the implementation of these strategies (e.g. TRIAD, SAS-based Collections Scorecards and segmentation models).
• Lead the collections digitization and optimization journey across the Personal Loans portfolio by embedding SAS-driven analytics, scorecard monitoring, and automation into decision-making processes.
• Expand on post write-off recovery strategies through SAS modelling and MI reporting to enhance this cashflow stream.
• Participate in the strategy setting and design of the Collections Operations and External Debt Collectors incentive programs to ensure their effectiveness in motivating collectors and delivering on budgeted performance targets.
• Maintain documentation of the end‐to‐end credit collections strategy, including SAS model logic and deployment documentation.
• Understand the interaction between the macro environment and credit performance, using SAS scenario analysis and forecasting models to adjust credit collections strategies for anticipated macro stress events.
• Develop strategy and policy tests using SAS (e.g. champion/challenger testing frameworks) to challenge and refine existing strategies.
• Ensure Management Information (MI) is in place or developed using SAS and MI tools to track strategy performance and effective implementation. Review outputs and ensure alignment with product committees.
• Ensure that regular portfolio reviews are conducted. Analyse outputs using SAS and recommend data-backed changes to business activities to improve portfolio health.
• Manage and control compliance, mandatory, and regulatory accountability relating to collections, including the National Credit Act (NCA) and the Enterprise Risk Management Framework (ERMF), ensuring all SAS-based processes adhere to model governance and audit standards.

Stakeholder and Relationship Management

• Coordinate and communicate collections activities with the respective Business Units (BUs), Risk and Operations teams.
• Drive close collaboration with the Operations teams and foster a cooperative, solutions-oriented working relationship.
• Secure support from Collections and Recoveries Operations, Risk Teams, MI, Business teams, Finance, Product, Payments, Technology, and HR to deliver integrated and effective collections programs.
• Participate in BU Manco meetings to ensure senior stakeholders are informed about the analytics methodologies (including SAS models and tools) used by Risk in decision-making and the business value derived from them.
• Support BUs in meeting impairment targets and Loan Loss Rates aligned to forecasts, by providing proactive SAS-driven analysis and guidance to manage credit risk within acceptable thresholds.
• Establish credit risk modelling and measurement procedures and systems, leveraging SAS as a primary analytics and modelling platform.
• Review and report on Collections performance and trends to key governance forums, including the Portfolio Quality Review Meeting, Retail Credit Risk Committee, Group Risk Teams, and Product Teams.

People and Culture

• Build and maintain a culture aligned to Risk’s aspirational colleague experience, aimed at delivering the target customer experience and financial results.
• Ensure the team’s goals align with business objectives through effective performance development (PD) plans.
• Foster a high-performance culture by driving the PD process and tracking progress against agreed deliverables.
• Proactively identify the development needs of direct reports and implement individual development plans.
• Attract and retain top talent in partnership with the HR Business Partner.
• Interview and recruit new team members, determining appropriate compensation levels with input from HR.
• Assess team capabilities and collaborate with HR to develop succession plans.
• Manage disciplinary processes as needed, with support from Employee Relations.
• Act as the first line of escalation for staff grievances and resolve issues constructively.
• Hold monthly performance meetings to address gaps and drive accountability.
• Recognise team contributions and promote a culture of appreciation.
• Ensure execution of initiatives aimed at improving colleague engagement (e.g. CES action plans).

Control

• Accountable for maintaining a robust and compliant control environment within the product.
• Ensure that collections activities appropriately balance customer experience with the organisation’s financial and risk objectives.
• Leverage SAS audit trails and documentation standards to ensure transparency, traceability, and compliance with internal controls and regulatory expectations.

Qualifications

• Honours Degree in Mathematics and/or Statistics or an equivalent NQF Level 8 qualification.
• Minimum 8 years of relevant banking experience, with at least 2 years in a senior role (preferably in Retail Banking).
• Highly numerate and literate.
• A well-rounded credit professional with demonstrated leadership experience.

Knowledge and Skills

• Deep knowledge of Retail Banking client profiles and behaviours (Expert).
• Proven record of accomplishment in credit management and sanctioning (Expert).
• Advanced financial analysis and interpretation skills (Advanced).
• Strong stakeholder management and engagement capability (Advanced).
• Expertise in scorecard development and predictive modelling using SAS (Expert).
• SAS skills across data manipulation, model building, and performance monitoring (Expert).
• Familiarity with TRIAD, collections decision engines, and strategy testing frameworks.

Education

• Bachelor Honours Degree: BMI - Business Management and Informatics (Required)

End Date: July 31, 2025