Senior Manager: Finance at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

About the Job

Job Summary

This role will manage monthly reporting processes and the end-to-end planning processes from forecasting thought leadership, to planning, monitoring and evaluation throughout the annual financial calendar. This includes focus on business analysis and insights to providing business intelligence to inform and influence leadership decisions, all while reducing financial risk. The incumbent is expected to drive process efficiency and improvement. It will further include commercial financial modelling.

• The incumbent partners with the CFO and is responsible for end-to-end financial management, including developing forward-thinking analysis, generating management reports, scaling automated financial processes to crafting financial strategies aligned to business financial health and growth objectives, and ensures that business makes sound financial decisions.
• The role is responsible to co-create, build and run Finance capabilities required to lead to exponential growth and business effectiveness.
• End-to-end accountability and responsibility for finance MI, financial and management reports, forecasts, and business performance analysis.
• Partners with the CFO and MD to transform, bring stewardship, financial integrity & insights to the current state of the business & its future possibilities to deliver on and to achieve the business strategy objectives set by Absa Group Limited for Relationship Banking.
• Support the CFO in managing the treasury and funding activities of the business.

Job Description

Commercial Finance Execution Accountabilities

• Responsible for tactical strategy and the navigation of multiple/complex leadership.
• Leveraging tactical and practice integration, accountable to optimise the function. Co-accountable with CFO and MD for business growth and profitability.
• Ensures that the CFO is appraised of key financial issues that need to be raised with executive leadership to enable integrity and timely management.
• Deliver on our Customer Promise by creating unprecedented, seamless experiences.
• Embrace our distinctive brand aspiration and infuse in business.
• Implementation and creating of global best operating practices.
• Drive continuous process efficiency, financial rigor and controls. Pioneer and implement Finance best practices, digital solutions, and effective change enablement. Help build a scalable, digitally led business.
• Drive cost management objectives within Savings and Investments.
• Contribute to functional strategy, create a shared purpose and identity for function; one family doing what’s ‘best for Absa’.
• Book of work contribution: Partner with leaders on financial decisions and implications of business strategies, investments, trade-offs, efficiency, and scale initiatives, including process and systems transformation. Ensure alignment of core business with future business and technology changes and align vendor roadmaps to ensure the achievement thereof.
• Accountable for ensuring an optimal and compliant control environment within business unit that appropriately balances risk appetites and customer demand with the need to grow to achieve the financial ambitions and balance sheet aspirations of Savings and Investments. and Everyday Banking.
• Lead all aspects of the core finance processes for Savings and Investments. in support of Everyday Banking Finance (annual planning, forecasting, spend trajectory and reporting), and partner with the business leaders to evaluate the productivity of operations, enable wise resource allocation, and drive intelligent scenario planning.
• Stimulate a leadership context of solid understanding of the markets/segments/customers/products to help drive financial growth.
• Perform product and customer profitability analysis to assist with business decisions.
• Build capability to partner with business to identify opportunities to utilise relevant solutions to innovate new products and services with the intent of driving customer value and revenue.
• Whenever necessary, participate in negotiations with partners as well as suppliers or contractors within appropriate role scope.
• Foster strong relationships with business units by establishing a customer service culture within the commercial finance team.
• Influence integration of Treasury, Risk, and Finance from a BU perspective.
• Maintain stewardship and excellence which drives performance and sustainable growth through preservation of financial integrity.
• Leverage BU to help shape society by developing innovative solutions to societal challenges; and expand and augment existing capabilities.
• Integrate oversight of BCM & cybersecurity strategy for BU into Finance execution.
• Understanding of balance sheet management, balancing capital consumption, risk appetite and returns as well as managing the liquidity and funding of Savings and Investments.
• Understanding of IFRS 9 as well as overall credit portfolio management
• Take a commercial view on business and provide contextual insights into performance reports. Provide insights across the markets and products. Provide management with key finance and strategic insights which can assist in driving management decisions
• Integrate advanced modelling and analysis capability to provide actionable intelligence, beyond data within the function.
• Rigorously monitor expenditure against approved budgets for and put measures in place to address variances.
• Continuously identify areas for improved efficiency and reduced cost.

Financial Reporting Accountabilities

• Partner with leaders to define, optimize and monitor progress on their strategic agenda, short-term and long-term plans and investments, operational success metrics, efficiencies, risks and mitigations.
• Develop finance narratives and insights driving business; and build pioneering new propositions.
• Ensure appropriate, quality and timeous delivery of accurate financial and non-financial management information to support business objectives and expectations, including appropriate financial and non-financial metrics, valid and insightful comments and packaging the information in a relevant and appropriate manner.
• Deliver reporting reflecting deep commercial, holistic understanding, coherency, clarity, and contextualisation. Tell the story with passion and conviction.
• Provide thought-leadership, insight, influence and challenge on evolving stakeholder information requirements and reporting processes to deliver analytics.
• Drive the stakeholder engagement and processes around month-end, year-end and planning cycles across Consumer Products. Prepare for all cycles in advance and ensure adequate engagement with the relevant finance and business teams
• Integrate the production of regular, high quality, standardised financial and non-financial reporting and analytics to Business and Finance.
• Ensure that the CFO & MD are appraised of key financial issues that need to be raised with executive leadership
• Build Savings and Investments leadership capability by influencing deep understanding of income statement, balance sheet, margin returns, variance analysis, capital and liquidity requirements, revenues, assets, liabilities and capital, expenses, headcount analytics and other key ratios through relevant engagement. Hold Savings and Investments managers accountable for ensuring adaptability of the team to changes in external regulatory requirements and business performance outlook.

People Investment Accountabilities

• Coach, inspire, engage, mentor and develop finance and business savvy leaders.
• Play to our A-Game culture of Culture of inclusivity, diversity, entrepreneurship, and ownership.
• People Promise will be integral to our business. Focus on Finance skills development and succession.
• Integrate Big Data and Advanced Analytics into the core of our business.
• Develop specialised Finance skills to support mergers and acquisitions, and partnership capabilities to drive opportunity.
• Provide thought leadership to the industry and aim to create industry benchmark standards.
• Be an enabler of capabilities, talent and service level to fulfil business and functional responsibilities in an innovative efficient manner.
• Lead the Finance team in obtaining a holistic view of Savings and Investments, whilst ensuring that each direct report maintains an in-depth understanding of his/her own functional area.
• Regularly engage with the other finance and Savings and Investments teams regarding the process surrounding demand management, ensuring that adequate controls are in place to ensure effective utilisation of the Finance team’s resources.
• Embed the correct governance and control frameworks across the Finance team, as well as for proactively addressing any deficiencies and exceptions.

Role / Person Specification

• Minimum B-degree (NQF level no.7) Desired Post Graduate Degree (NQF level no.8+), CA (SA) or CIMA or MBA qualification preferred.
• 5+ years professional financial management experience
• 5+ years Banking Experience at a management level
• Preferred team lead in Finance Function teams or in professional environments
• Experience in business transformation contexts related to exponential business growth
• Experience in commercial innovation environments
• Broad Finance including strategic, commercial, legal, risk and operational aspects
• Ability to build, develop & lead professional level teams
• Understanding of the financial services sector within a professional business environment
• Knowledge of people change management

Education

• Postgraduate Degrees and Professional Qualifications: Financial Sciences (Required)