The African Development Bank hereby invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in the following Assignment : Consultant Trade Finance Middle & Back Office

The African Development Bank hereby invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in the following Assignment : Consultant Trade Finance Middle & Back Office

 

Trade Finance Division

Financial Sector Development Department

CCIA Building, Plateau, Abidjan – Côte d’Ivoire

Telephone: +225 20265263

E-mail : TFMBO@AFDB.ORG

1. The African Development Bank hereby invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in the following Assignment : Consultant Trade Finance Middle & Back Office ;
2. The services to be provided under the Assignment include :

• Maintain a database of trade finance guarantee transactions originated under various Risk Participation Agreements (RPA) ;
• Receive and verify reports received from RPA partners/CBs and subsequently upload into the TF database 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 eligibility criteria of the TFP and fully mirror those of the Confirming Bank (CB) partners across all RPAs to ensure zero reporting error ;
• Monitor fees receivable and reconcile them with reports and actual payments received from CB partners ;
• Conduct monthly reconciliation of transactions between the Bank and CB partners to ensure complete alignment at all times ;
• Collaborate with the other members of the TF team to develop an internal list of issuing banks in Regional Member Countries in accordance with approved terms of the TFP ;
• Maintain close relationship and interface with the AfDB’s IT Department to assure the robustness and efficiency of the database 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 RPAs ;
• Participate in supervision missions to evaluate the commercial and developmental impact of RPA 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 trade finance portfolio ;
• Conduct routine KYC and compliance checks on designated issuing banks ;
• Perform any other duties as may be assigned ;
• The Trade Finance Division invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested Consultants shall provide information on their qualifications and experience demonstrating their ability to undertake this Assignment (documents, reference to similar services, experience in similar assignments, etc.) ;
• The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s Procurement Policy Framework for projects financed by the Bank Group, October 2015 Edition, available on the Bank Website at http://www.afdb.org. Please, note that interest expressed by a Consultant does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include him/her in the shortlist ;
• The estimated duration of services is 12 months and the estimated starting date is November 16, 2018 ;
• Interested Individual Consultants may obtain further information at the address below during the Bank’s working hours: 09:00AM to 5:00PM Abidjan time ;
• Expressions of interest must be received at the address below no later than October 23, 2018 at 5:00PM local time and specifically mentioning Consultant Trade Finance Middle & Back Office

For the attention of: AfDB Trade Finance Middle & Back office

African Development Bank

Trade Finance Division

Immeuble CCIA-BAD, Plateau

Zip Code : 1387

Town : Abidjan

Country : Ivory Coast

Tel : +225 20265263

E-mail : TFMBO@AFDB.ORG

Detailed Terms of reference for the assignment : The TOR is in annex 1 below.

Please attach an updated Curriculum Vita on the basis of the template below

Annex 1: terms of refrence

Recruitment of an individual consultant middle/back office of trade finance division, financial sector development department (pifd)

1. Background

• The Financial Sector Development Department (PIFD) of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has primary responsibility for leading the implementation of 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) including the provision of: equity, guarantees, lines of credit to financial intermediaries, loans to qualified corporates and technical assistance among others. One of the main divisions in PIFD is the Trade Finance Division, which is responsible for providing trade finance solutions to financial institutions and soft commodity corporates engaged in supporting regional and international trade in Africa ;
• The need to increase trade amongst RMCs and with the rest of the world is a key priority of the AfDB. Africa’s trade has tripled in volume over the past decade, and this has generated increased demand for trade finance that is not fully met by the available supply ;
• To help bridge the continent’s trade finance gap, the AfDB launched a Trade Finance Program (TFP) in February 2013. The TFP offers 3 complementary products to provide liquidity and risk mitigation support to financial institutions (FIs) and commodity corporates in Africa: (i) Trade Finance Line of Credit; (ii) Soft Commodity Finance Facility; and (iii) Risk Participation Agreement (RPA). The RPA is a portfolio approach of providing payment guarantees to international banks for their trade transactions with FIs in Africa. AfDB monitors the use of this instrument through a stand-alone bespoke database system while the other two products are managed through the Bank’s main SAP system ;
• There has been high demand for the TFP from both local financial institutions and international confirming banks. While the Trade Finance Division continues to build its human resource base, it has become necessary to recruit the services of a junior consultant to share the workload in the middle/back office ;
• In light of the above, the Bank is requesting expressions of interest from suitably qualified individuals to serve as a junior consultant in the middle/back office of the Trade Finance Division.

2. Objectives of the assignment

The objective of this request is to hire an experienced consultant, in Trade Finance operations, to support the middle and back office efforts of the Trade Finance Division in order to achieve the following :

• Effective handling and monitoring of all operational aspects of the middle/back office activities of the Trade Finance Division ;
• High quality relationship management of partner financial institutions under Risk Participation Agreement implementation ;
• Mitigating operational risk and ensuring that the Bank’s trade finance guarantee portfolio is efficiently managed at all times ;
• Providing timely and accurate reports and information to internal stakeholders.

3. Main activities and deliverables

Under the supervision of the Division Manager and with guidance from the Trade Finance Operations Officers, the successful candidate will be expected to undertake functions including, but not limited to the following :

• As part of the trade finance middle/back office team, maintain a database of trade finance guarantee transactions originated under various Risk Participation Agreements (RPA) ;
• Receive and verify reports received from RPA partners/CBs and subsequently upload into the TF database 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 eligibility criteria of the TFP and fully mirror those of the Confirming Bank (CB) partners across all RPAs to ensure zero reporting error ;
• Monitor fees receivable and reconcile them with reports and actual payments received from CB partners ;
• Conduct monthly reconciliation of transactions between the Bank and CB partners to ensure complete alignment at all times ;
• Collaborate with the other members of the TF team to develop an internal list of issuing banks in Regional Member Countries in accordance with approved terms of the TFP ;
• Maintain close relationship and interface with the AfDB’s IT Department to assure the robustness and efficiency of the database 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 RPAs ;
• Participate in supervision missions to evaluate the commercial and developmental impact of RPA 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 trade finance portfolio ;
• Conduct routine KYC and compliance checks on designated issuing banks ;
• Perform any other duties as may be assigned by the Lead Trade Finance Specialist.

4. Administration/Reporting

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

5. 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 November 16, 2018.

6. 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 or trade finance environment ;
• Good understanding of Trade Finance instruments (Letters of credit confirmation, Refinance, Bank guarantees, Documentary collections, Trade loans etc.) in a commercial banking environment ;
• Strong proficiency in SharePoint Access and Microsoft suite (including Microsoft Excel and Access) ;
• 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.

7. Location of the position

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

8. Contract amount and method of payement

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.

MODEL CURRICULUM VITAE