Head, Credit

Head of Credit

Job Description:

• Full-time position in the Credit Department.
• Reporting line to the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
• Regular reporting to relevant management and Board committees.

Role Purpose:

• Lead the bank’s credit function from underwriting and approval to portfolio monitoring, collections, and recovery.
• Build a sustainable loan book by making sound lending decisions, keeping losses within approved limits, and implementing controls as Quick Microfinance Bank expands digital lending.

Key Responsibilities:

Credit Strategy and Governance:

• Translate the bank’s growth plans into a credit strategy.
• Recommend product eligibility, underwriting criteria, exposure limits, and portfolio targets aligned with the bank’s risk appetite.
• Maintain the credit policy and procedures, collaborating with Risk and Compliance to comply with Central Bank of Nigeria requirements and resolve audit and regulatory findings.

Underwriting and Credit Operations:

• Oversee the assessment of borrower affordability, repayment capacity, credit history, and collateral or guarantees where applicable.
• Set standards for credit memos and loan documentation.
• Approve applications within delegated authority and escalate larger exposures, policy exceptions, and related-party transactions through designated approval channels, ensuring decisions are documented.
• Ensure independent pre-disbursement checks confirm that approval conditions are met and maintain clear separation of duties across origination, approval, and disbursement.

Portfolio Monitoring and Collections:

• Track arrears, portfolio at risk, non-performing loans, credit losses, and concentrations by product and borrower segment.
• Investigate deterioration and agree corrective actions with management.
• Develop and implement a collections strategy from early arrears through recovery, overseeing restructuring, recovery agents, and write-off recommendations within approved policies and customer treatment standards.
• Work with Finance and Risk on loan classification, impairment, and provisioning. Provide timely portfolio and exceptions reports to management and relevant committees.

Digital Lending and Team Leadership

• Collaborate with Digital, Technology, and Operations to configure and test eligibility rules, scorecards, credit bureau checks, and approval workflows in the loan origination and core banking systems.
• Monitor automated decisions, manual overrides, and early repayment performance. Recommend rule changes through the bank’s approval process and ensure that changes are thoroughly tested before implementation.
• Lead and develop the credit, underwriting, and collections teams. Establish performance standards, review decision quality, and provide coaching to staff on credit judgment and customer treatment.

Qualifications and Experience

• A bachelor’s and Masters degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field is required.
• At least eight years of experience in lending, underwriting, or credit risk is essential, with at least three years of experience leading a credit or collections team.
• Experience managing retail, microenterprise, or small-business loan portfolios in a regulated lending institution, with direct accountability for portfolio quality, is highly desirable.
• Strong financial and cash flow analysis skills are crucial, along with practical knowledge of Nigerian microfinance credit requirements. The ability to present credit recommendations to senior committees is also important.
• Experience launching or scaling digital lending initiatives is advantageous. A relevant professional qualification, such as CIBN or a recognized credit or risk certification, is an added advantage.

Performance Measurement

• Portfolio quality and losses are measured by portfolio at risk over 30 days (PAR30), the non-performing loan ratio, and write-offs against approved limits.
• Collections and recovery performance is assessed by cure rates, recoveries against assigned balances, and the share of overdue loans progressing into more severe arrears.
• Lending performance is evaluated by loan book growth, portfolio yield within approved risk limits, and underwriting turnaround time.
• Control quality is measured by policy exceptions, completeness of loan files, and timely closure of audit and regulatory findings.

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