THE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

FINANCIAL SECTOR DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT (PIFD)

Avenue Jean-Paul II, 01 BP 1387, Abidjan 01, Ivory Coast

[email protected]; [email protected]

CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

RECRUITMENT OF TWO INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT (S)

MIDDLE/BACK OFFICE OF TRADE FINANCE DIVISION FOR AFAWA RISK SHARING MECHANISM & OTHER GUARANTEE INSTRUMENTS MANAGEMENT

BACKGROUND :

  • The Financial Sector Development Department (PIFD) of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has primary responsibility for implementing the Bank Group’s Financial Sector Development Strategy & Policy ;
  • PIFD is fully responsible for the Bank’s sovereign and non-sovereign financial sector operations in Africa’s 54 Regional Member Countries (RMCs). Within PIFD, the Financial Inclusion and Intermediation Division (PIFD1) provides to Financial institutions (FIs) equity, guarantees, lines of credit, senior loans, and technical assistance among others ;
  • The Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) is spearheading a major initiative to close the estimated USD 42 billion financing gap for women in Africa, unlock their entrepreneurial capacity, economic participation, and achieve maximum development impact through three pillars (i) access to finance for women entrepreneurs, (ii) capacity building; and (iii) enabling environment development ;
  • To help bridge the continent’s financing gap for women in Africa, the AfDB is establishing under the AFAWA first pillar an innovative Risk Sharing Mechanism (“AFAWA Risk Sharing Mechanism or RSM”) with the support of various donors that will catalyze USD3 billion in new financing to Women-Empowered Businesses (WEBs) over a period of 10 years ;
  • The first phase of the AFAWA RSM involves partnership with the Africa Guarantee Fund (AGF) as the first Implementing Partner (IP). The AFAWA RSM with AGF is a portfolio approach of providing counter guarantees to AGF to cover its exposure to Partner Financials Institutions (PFIs) portfolio of loans to WEBs. AfDB will monitor these guarantees through a stand-alone bespoke database system ;
  • The use of guarantee products is expected to increase in the medium term. In addition to the AFAWA RSM, PIFD intends to ramp up the use of guarantees with its FI clients, including partial credit guarantees under the Africa SME Program to support SMEs on the continent ;
  • To manage both the AFAWA RSM and guarantees with FI clients and under the Africa SME Program, it has become necessary for PIFD to recruit the services of two (2) consultants to manage the associated middle/back office functions ;
  • In light of the above, PIFD1 is requesting Expressions of Interest (EOI) from suitably qualified individuals to serve as senior consultants.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT :

The objectives of the consultancy include the following :

  • Effective handling and monitoring of all operational aspects of the middle/back office activities of the AFAWA RSM, Africa SME Program guarantees, as well as other guarantees with FI clients ;
  • High quality relationship management of partner financial institutions under the AFAWA RSM and the Africa SME Program among others ;
  • Mitigating operational risk and ensuring that the guarantee instruments are efficiently managed at all times ;
  • Providing timely and accurate reports and information to internal stakeholders.

MAIN ACTIVITIES AND DELIVERABLES : 

Within PIFD, it is the Trade Finance Division (PIFD3) that has the experience in managing middle and back office operations of guarantees. Under the overall supervision of the PIFD3 Division Manager and with guidance from the Trade Finance Operations Officers, the successful candidate(s) will undertake along others the following activities :

  • Maintain a database of guarantees originated under AFAWA RSM and Africa SME Program as well as other guarantees with PIFD FI clients ;
  • Receive and verify reports received from the Bank’s FI guarantee partners and subsequently upload these into the appropriate databases for purposes of tracking limits, exposures, maturity dates and fees; and for generating requisite information for reporting purposes ;
  • Monitor transactions to ensure they are executed in accordance with the approved terms of the AFAWA RSM, Africa SME Program etc.;
  • Monitor fees receivable and reconcile them with reports and actual payments received from the guarantee partners ;
  • Conduct monthly reconciliation of transactions between the Bank and the guarantee partners to ensure complete alignment at all times ;
  • Keep good records of the list of Partner Financial Institutions (PFIs) and transactions with Women-Empowered Business in Regional Member Countries in accordance with approved terms of the AFAWA RSM ;
  • Maintain close relationship and interface with the AfDB’s IT Department to assure the robustness and efficiency of the databases on a going basis ;
  • Prepare presentations, portfolio analysis reports, briefs and memos as required ;
  • Draft notes to the Bank’s Credit Risk Committee for requests on amendments to the terms of agreed legal arrangements and for any claim resulting from the guarantee instruments ;
  • Participate in supervision missions to evaluate the commercial and developmental impact of projects and to verify adherence to the agreed terms and conditions ;
  • Keep abreast of developments in the financial sector in RMCs to identify early warning signals of increased risk and deterioration in market conditions that could affect the Bank’s guarantee and trade finance portfolio ;
  • Conduct routine KYC and compliance checks on designated banks ;
  • Collaborate with the other members of the PIFD and AFAWA teams as necessary. Perform any other duties as may be assigned from time to time.

ADMINISTRATION/REPORTING :

The consultant will report functionally to the Trade Finance Division Manager (PIFD3), Financial Sector Development Department.

DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT & TENTATIVE COMMENCEMENT DATE :

The services of the Consultant will be required for an initial period of 12 months. The tentative commencement date is December 15, 2020.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE :

Minimum Educational level of Consultants: Master degree (or the equivalent) in a relevant discipline.

  • The ideal candidate should have a minimum of 5 years cognate experience in transactions database management in a financial institution ;
  • Good understanding of risk sharing instruments and guarantees in a commercial banking or insurance environment ;
  • Strong proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office ;
  • Strongly analytical skills with an eye for detail ;
  • Excellent written and verbal communications skills in English and/or French and with good working knowledge of the other.

LOCATION OF THE POSITION :

The consultant will be based in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

CONTRACT AMOUNT AND METHOD OF PAYMENT :

The Contract and Method of Payment will be based on the Bank’s ‘Guidelines on Individual Consultants Remuneration’. Remuneration will take into account the number of years of relevant experience.

CONFIDENTIALITY CLAUSE :

The Consulting firm may not use or disclose the information received as part of his / her assignment.

SUBMISSION :

The AfDB invites individual consultants to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested individuals must provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the services through: a) a CV; and b) a short motivation letter that also refers to the relevant assignments undertaken / positions held that support the candidate’s submission, to be sent by email to the addresses mentioned below.

Eligibility criteria and establishment of the short-list and the selection procedure shall be in accordance with the African Development Bank’s “Rules and Procedures for the use of Consultants” May 2008 edition and revised July 2012, which is available on the Bank’s website at http://www.afdb.org. Only Individual Consultants would be considered for this Expression of Interest. Consultants should be national of one of the AfDB’s member countries

The Bank is under no obligation to shortlist any individual who expresses interest.

Expressions of interest must be submitted or sent by e-mail to all the addresses mentioned below no later than October 30, 2020 and specifically mentioning “Expression of interest for an Individual Consultant Middle/Back Office of Trade Finance Division for Afawa Risk Sharing Mechanism & Other Guarantee Instruments Management”.

[email protected] Cc : [email protected]