Head, Plan to Perform, Africa - Standard Chartered Bank

We are a leading international bank focused on helping people and companies prosper across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

To us, good performance is about much more than turning a profit.  It’s about showing how you embody our valued behaviours – do the right thing, better together and never settle – as well as our brand promise, Here for good.

We’re committed to promoting equality in the workplace and creating an inclusive and flexible culture – one where everyone can realise their full potential and make a positive contribution to our organisation. This in turn helps us to provide better support to our broad client base.

The Role Responsibilities

Job Purpose & Scope

• Overall country performance management for Africa Region including supporting the Country Management team with the Financial Planning and Budgeting/Forecasting exercise, monthly performance review and analysis.
• Expense management for all Segment, Products & Functions. MI Support to Country Management team, review and challenge of cost allocations, Cost planning, budgeting, and forecasting activity.

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• Ensure that the standards of customer service provided by the function consistently meet or exceed the requirements set under the Service Level Agreements agreed with the customers and aligned to GPO expectations
• Partner with local, Regional and Group Business / Country Finance teams on Country strategy, performance issues / opportunities.
• Liaise with customers on the periodic review and re-negotiation of Service Level Agreements and any other related performance and quality measures
• Conduct periodic tests of key controls in accordance with the operational risk policy framework.
• Ensure effective systems and procedures for the timely collection of data from all key stakeholders and their collation and submission to various recipients.
• Ensure compliance of regulations, policies & requirements of the ‘spoke’ countries and reports and raise relevant risks to delivery by effective communication.
• Leverage process/domain expertise  in P2P to identify opportunities for quality & process design improvement while upholding the values of the Group and  at all times.
• Work with other teams for continuous improvement in productivity and reporting standards prescribed from time to time.
• Engage with team members and other key resources as well as exercise skills/ techniques necessary to attract and retain key finance professionals in these roles.

Performance Management

• Responsible for supporting the Country CEO, CFO, Management team and PM teams with MI and analysis of the Management results for countries in Africa Region including run-rate analysis, financial planning, budgeting, forecasting.
• Responsible for Expense accounting and reporting for the region and providing analysis of their cost base, analysis Group cost allocations, prepare and support in the forecasting and budgeting activities, review and challenge cost allocation drivers and methodologies, support with monthly MI and analytics on the cost moments across various account lines and variances to budgets, forecasts, YoY, MoM, etc

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• Support the Regional and Investor relations team with commentaries and variance analysis on the Country performance
• Review the activities of the GFS supports at periodic intervals and impart the necessary training or guidance to them to come up the learning curve to enhance and improve the offshore support that they extend in all production and analytical activity under Expense management
• Drive standardization of MI packs across countries
• Supporting the CEO and CFO with any other adhoc analysis and project-related support
• Resolve management accounting issues and implement Group policies stated in the Management Accounting manuals

Team Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness

• Lead and manage the Africa Performance Management Team and to develop the staff to take up different/more value-add roles
• Contribute in any ad-hoc finance-related projects, including providing support to Finance Transformation initiatives as well as simplification of bank process
• Ensure GFS service levels are maintained in line with onshore requirements.
• Oversight responsibility on matters of risk  and compliance for the function

Key Relationships

     Internal

• Country & Regional CFOs in Africa
• GFS ExCo Members India and Africa
• Global Process Manager- Plan to Perform

    External

• Regulators, Central Bank and tax authorities (as required in developing SLAs / charging mechanisms)
• External auditors
• Relevant Industry bodies
• Accountancy bodies and profession

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Our Ideal Candidate

• CA/ACCA/ICA or any recognized professional accounting qualification  preferred
• Good communication skills
• Strong analytical and interpersonal skills
• Ability to assess and guide stakeholders – wearing the “CFO/CEO” lens
• Should be a resilient, self-starter with well-developed communication & interpersonal skills
• Ability to perform in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to handle multiple tasks with tight deadlines
• People Management and influencing skills
• Professionalism and reliability on advice to business and Group
• Experience of having led large teams including finance professionals.
• Ability to culturally orient in diverse & international team environment 

This Job Description should be read in conjunction with the relevant terms of reference, the Group’s Governance Manual which sets out responsibilities for establishing, maintaining and implementing the Group’s high-level systems and controls, policies and procedures, and the jobholder’s contract of employment.

The jobholder acknowledges that he/she has understood and will abide by the responsibilities set out in the Governance Manual as well as ensure compliance with the Group Code of Conduct, and the local regulator's Statements of Principle and Code of Practice for Regulated roles.

Standard Chartered is committed to diversity and inclusion. By providing equal opportunities we foster a work environment that embraces diversity and gets the best out of the broadest spectrum of people to sustain business performance and competitive advantage.

We build an inclusive culture by demonstrating respect for each other’s unique strengths and perspectives to enable every employee to develop a sense of belonging and have the opportunity to maximise their potential.