Business Banking Sector Head Wholesale and Retail Portfolio

The Business Banking Sector Head Wholesale and Retail Portfolio is accountable for defining and driving sector led growth strategies across the sector within Business Banking. The role sets strategy, governance, standards and portfolio wide outcomes across all Pan African markets, ensuring balance sheet optimisation, disciplined growth and risk aligned value creation.

• Define the Business Banking sector strategy is aligned to the bank’s growth, risk and return objectives.
• Translate group and Business Bank strategy into sector‑specific growth, penetration and profitability plans.
• Identify priority sub‑segments, client archetypes and growth opportunities within each sector.
• Ensure consistent strategy adoption across countries while allowing for market‑specific adaptations.
• Ensure alignment with Group balance‑sheet, capital and risk appetite.
• Develop the industry and/or sector‑level portfolio performance, including lending growth, revenue, margins and returns.
• Drive optimisation of risk‑adjusted returns (RORC) across sector portfolios.
• Monitor portfolio health, concentration and early‑warning indicators; initiate corrective actions where required.
• Balance growth ambition with disciplined portfolio management and loss mitigation.
• Own portfolio‑level outcomes across all markets.
• Act as final escalation point on portfolio‑level trade‑offs.
• Partner with Risk and Credit to define sector risk appetite, underwriting standards and credit policies.
• Work closely with Coverage and Relationship teams to embed sector strategies into frontline execution.
• Influence product and solution design to ensure sector relevance and commercial differentiation.
• Act as the Business Bank’s internal sector authority, providing insight on market trends, regulatory developments and competitive dynamics.
• Build strong working relationships with various internal stakeholders.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics or related field.
• Postgraduate qualification is strongly preferred.
• 10–15+ years’ experience in banking or financial services.
• Proven track record leading sector strategies and portfolios across multiple geographies.
• Strong experience in origination, structuring and management of complex credit and transactional solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to drive portfolio optimisation and risk‑adjusted returns.
• Experience in pan‑African or multi‑country environments is strongly preferred.