Managing Executive: AVAF Credit & Pricing Strategy at Absa South Africa

Job Summary

• The Head of Lending Strategy – Vehicle Finance is a strategic enterprise leader responsible for setting the long-term direction for credit risk and pricing across the home lending portfolio within the Retail business. This role operates with a broad scope of influence, accountable for shaping strategic priorities over a 3–5+ year horizon. It requires the ability to lead through complexity, make high-impact decisions, and deliver sustainable outcomes across financial performance, risk, regulatory alignment, and customer value.
• As a key member of the Risk and Vehicle Finance teams, the role ensures that vehicle finance risk appetite and lending strategies are forward-looking, competitive, and resilient—balancing margin, volume, and risk across varying economic and market cycles. The incumbent partners with senior stakeholders across Risk, Finance, Treasury, Product, Distribution, and Regulatory Affairs to lead integrated, enterprise-aligned decision-making in one of the bank’s critical business segments.
• The incumbent will lead a team of experienced retail credit risk professionals, encompassing a diverse range of quantitative and risk management expertise, to oversee the lending strategies of a large and complex retail portfolio.

Job Description

Portfolio Management

• Define and drive the long-term lending strategy for vehicle finance, aligned to retail growth ambitions, portfolio resilience, and evolving customer needs.
• Own and evolve the risk appetite, credit strategy, and decision frameworks for vehicle finance, ensuring alignment with external obligations and internal targets
• Shape strategic responses to macroeconomic shifts, regulatory changes, housing market trends, and competitive dynamics.
• Lead enterprise-level thinking to influence cross-functional decisions that impact profitability, capital efficiency, and customer proposition.
• Set and monitor concentration thresholds to ensure portfolios stay within Credit Risk Appetite in a 1-in-10 stress scenario.
• Create Early Warning Indicators to maintain earning volatility within threshold through the cycle.
• Ensure MI is developed and automated to monitor strategy performance and review reports from MI teams and relevant product committees.

​​​​​​​Acquisitions, Pricing and Collections Strategy Ownership

• Oversee portfolio-level risk performance and lead enhancements to credit lifecycle strategy management, including origination, collections, and portfolio monitoring.
• Develop and oversee vehicle finance pricing strategy, including variable, fixed, owner-occupied, and investor lending segments.
• Work in close collaboration with the customer strategy team to develop strategies across retail products that extract maximum value for the customer and contribute positively to the PPB franchise.
• Coordinate with the Fraud Risk team to align fraud and credit underwriting strategies
• Use data-driven insights to drive differentiated pricing models that optimize margin, capital usage, and competitive positioning.
• Ensure systems used for implementing collections strategies are fit for purpose and identify enhancements, confirming strategies are working as required and according to implementation plans
• Collaborate with PPB and Group Risk to support robust governance and effective capital deployment.

​​​​​​​Risk Measurement

• Report monthly Impairment and Risk Weighted Assets (RWA) numbers for the BU, articulating the underlying drivers of performance, measuring against plan, and reasons for deviations.
• Forecast these metrics accurately during planning processes, incorporating current credit performance across the credit life cycle, changing macro conditions, industry changes, and management actions that may impact outcomes.
• Calculate impairment and capital impacts arising from strategy changes, management actions, scenario analysis, etc.
• Ensure the portfolios are sufficiently provisioned from an expected credit loss (ECL) and RWA perspective.

​​​​​​​Enterprise Collaboration & Influence

• Engage senior leaders across PPB and Group functions to ensure cohesive, aligned strategic execution across credit, pricing, distribution, and risk.
• Act as a senior representative in strategic forums, shaping and defending the credit and pricing agenda at the enterprise level.

​​​​​​​Leadership & Capability Development

• Build and lead a high-performing team with advanced skills in pricing analytics, credit strategy, portfolio management, and strategic thinking.
• Promote a culture of innovation, accountability, and commercial excellence.
• Invest in future capability development to meet the evolving needs of the home lending business.

​​​​​​​Core Capabilities:

• Visionary leadership with the ability to set and execute long-range strategy in a complex, fast-evolving environment.
• Deep subject matter expertise in home lending, credit risk, pricing, and regulatory frameworks.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen, with a robust understanding of margin, capital, and portfolio performance drivers.
• Proven track record of enterprise-level influence, stakeholder management, and decision-making under ambiguity.
• Advanced analytical and modelling capability; able to translate insights into executable business strategy.
• Experience managing regulatory scrutiny and risk compliance in high-stakes product environments.

​​​​​​​Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

• Sustainable growth in the vehicle finance portfolio within risk appetite
• Improvement in portfolio profitability measures (e.g., NIM, RoRC, RoA)
• Reduction in credit losses and arrears while maintaining competitive acquisition
• Strategic pricing execution across channels and segments
• Regulatory and audit outcomes related to credit and pricing frameworks
• Maturity of data-driven decisioning and model-based pricing
• Cross-functional stakeholder alignment and influence at executive level

​​​​​​​Preferred Years of Experience

• Twelve to fifteen (12 to 15) years’ experience in managing a fully-fledged credit function in a banking or credit environment, including scorecard deployment.
• Proven track record of leadership ability
• Ten (10) years’ experience in Banking
• Eight (8) years’ experience in building and deploying risk strategies

Education

• Postgraduate Degrees and Professional Qualifications: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (Required)

End Date: October 29, 2025