Job Description

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The Chief Risk Officer (CRO) is responsible for leading and shaping the Bank's enterprise-wide risk management

strategy, ensuring comprehensive identification, evaluation, mitigation, and monitoring of all material risks that could

affect the achievement of the Bank's developmental and commercial objectives. The CRO provides strategic oversight

of key risk functions, including group risk, credit risk, recoveries, credit lab, country risk, and portfolio risk management.

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Key Responsibilities

Key Performance Areas:

Strategy Formulation and Implementation


Lead the formulation, execution, and continuous enhancement of an enterprise-wide risk management strategy that aligns with the Bank's strategic objectives and developmental priorities. Define, maintain, and embed a Risk Appetite and Tolerance Framework to guide strategic and operational decision-making across the organisation. Provide strategic risk leadership to the Executive Committee (ExCo), Board, and Board Committees to enable proactive, informed, and balanced decision-making. Oversee a robust risk governance framework, including clear policies, procedures, delegation of authority, risk limits, and escalation protocols. Establish and maintain early warning systems and risk triggers to detect deviations from the defined risk appetite, enabling timely intervention and mitigation. Provide strategic oversight across all major risk types, including credit, market, liquidity, operational, reputational, country, and emerging risks. Champion the integration of risk management practices into business processes, investment decisions, and developmental operations to strengthen both impact and financial sustainability. Assess the financial and developmental implications of key risk exposures, recommending corrective or riskadjusted strategies as needed. Oversee the implementation of risk management practices that promote regulatory compliance, institutional integrity, and adherence to principles of good governance and sustainable development finance.

Investment Risk Management



Credit Risk & Portfolio Management

Exercise oversight over credit assessments, approval processes, and policy implementation across the investment lifecycle. Facilitate the timely identification, measurement, and mitigation of credit risk exposures across loan and investment portfolios. Oversee the credit and investment portfolios' performance and risk quality, through structured monitoring, early warning indicators, stress testing and portfolio analytics to identify emerging risks, concentrations and vulnerabilities. Lead the production and presentation of independent, forward-looking credit and investment risk insights, dashboards, and analyses to Executive Management and the Board, highlighting key trends, exposures, and portfolio risks. Direct periodic and annual portfolio reviews, including country and sovereign exposures, incorporating updated risk ratings, macroeconomic assessments, and policy compliance evaluations. Oversee ongoing client credit reviews, creditworthiness assessments, and Expected Credit Loss (ECL)
evaluations in line with applicable accounting and regulatory standards.

Country Risk Management

Provide strategic oversight of the development and continual enhancement of country risk assessment models that incorporate political, macroeconomic, and sovereign risk factors. Oversee the establishment and maintenance of country risk ratings and exposure limits to guide prudent crossborder investment decisions. Review and challenge country risk assessments, scenario analyses, and geopolitical monitoring to ensure responsiveness to changing operating environments. Champion that country risk insights are appropriately integrated into credit decisions, investment strategy
formulation, and overall risk appetite considerations.

Credit Lab

Exercise leadership and direction in the design and continuous enhancement of credit evaluation tools and processes that underpin early-stage project screening and sound credit decision-making. Oversee the governance and adequacy of due diligence frameworks, ensuring the incorporation of robust quantitative and qualitative risk metrics that strengthen the quality and consistency of credit submissions and approvals. Foster a strong risk culture by championing capacity development initiatives across business units, enhancing risk awareness, and advancing sound credit structuring practices across sectors and regions. Drive the harmonisation and alignment of credit tools, templates, and methodologies across the Bank to promote consistency, analytical rigour, and efficiency in credit assessment and portfolio management.
Business Support & Recoveries

Provide effective recovery strategies and workout solutions for distressed or non-performing assets to maximise recoveries and protect capital. Facilitate regular review and categorisation of non-performing loans (NPL) with tailored action plans to support restructuring, enforcement, or exit strategies. Oversee the collaboration with legal, investment, and restructuring teams to resolve complex exposures while balancing financial recovery and development impact. Champion reduction in NPL ratios in line with institutional targets and market benchmarks.

Strategic Partnerships & Stakeholder Engagement


Foster and maintain strong working relationships with financial institutions, commercial banks, and other counterparties to support the Bank's development mandate and risk mitigation management. Collaborate with regulatory bodies, peer DFIs, multilateral institutions, and credit bureaus to enhance risk intelligence and risk-sharing mechanisms. Contribute to shaping national, regional, or sectoral risk-related regulations or frameworks through consultation processes or formal submissions. Respond timely and effectively to the appropriate stakeholders during significant risk events or portfolio stress scenarios.

Reporting


Oversee the development, implementation, and maintenance of a comprehensive risk reporting framework that enables timely, accurate, and relevant insights into key risk exposures across the Bank. Ensure full compliance with all regulatory reporting requirements, including those related to the PFMA, Basel guidelines, DBSA Act, and other relevant legal or prudential standards. Oversee the preparation and submission of comprehensive risk reports to the Board, Board Risk & Audit Committees, Executive Committee (EXCO), and other governance bodies, covering credit, market, liquidity, operational, and investment risks. Provide consolidated portfolio risk analytics and dashboards, including
forward-looking indicators, stress testing outcomes, and early warning signals, highlighting risk trends,

concentrations, emerging threats, and non-performing assets.
Report on risks associated with achieving developmental mandates, including Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations, country risk exposure in fragile markets, and just transition-related risk factors.

People Management


Provide direction and management to the Division, to enable the strategy execution Attract, retain, and develop talent and ensure succession planning and sufficient capacity and capability in all critical functions, supporting diversity strategies and initiatives as well. Promote DBSA values and a culture of high performance through implementing performance management in line with the planned strategic objectives, goals, quality standards and agreed key performance measures using sound performance management principles.

Key Measurements of Outputs

A fully approved and implemented enterprise risk strategy and governance framework that aligns with the Bank's decadal strategy, regulatory requirements (e.g. Basel, PFMA), and developmental objectives.

Demonstrable improvement in credit portfolio management overall, inclusive of quality and the following indicators - reduced risk concentrations, declining non-performing loan (NPL) ratios, stable/reduced credit losses; improved portfolio risk-adjusted returns, early warning indicators, stress testing, effective credit risk mitigation actions and so forth.

Effective credit portfolio oversight and transparency by ensuring timely delivery of high-quality credit portfolio analytics and dashboards to Executive Management and the Board including visibility of sectoral, geographic, counterparty, and sovereign exposures, risk migrations, stress test outcomes, and Expected Credit Loss (ECL) trends.

Receipt of an unqualified audit opinion and full compliance with internal and external regulatory reporting standards, reflecting effective governance and financial control.

Achievement of operational KPIs related to internal control effectiveness, fraud prevention, process integrity, and adherence to statutory and ethical standards across the Bank.

Evident embedding of a strong risk-aware culture across business units, including increased risk ownership, improved compliance behaviour, and robust challenge-and-review practices.

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Expertise & Technical Competencies

Qualifications and Experience:

Minimum Qualification



Relevant undergraduate and post-graduate degrees/qualifications in related/relevant disciplines such as Finance, Risk Management, Economics, Actuarial Science, Banking, Development Finance and so forth.


Minimum Experience



A minimum of 12 years senior-level experience in enterprise risk management, financial risk, or banking, preferably within a development finance institution or within a regulated financial services environment.

A minimum of 5 years in an executive or leadership role overseeing enterprise-wide risk functions, including creditrisk, operational risk, market risk, or compliance.

Deep understanding of financial markets, banking products, and regulatory environments.

Demonstrated experience in developing and executing enterprise risk management strategies aligned to regulatory frameworks such as Basel Accords, and international risk standards.

Proven success in embedding risk governance frameworks, including risk appetite, policies, and controls, within complex or multi-jurisdictional environments.

Track record of leading credit risk oversight, including credit policy development, country risk assessments, early warning systems, and non-performing loan (NPL) recovery strategies.

Strong technical understanding of risk quantification, capital adequacy, stress testing, credit rating methodologies, and portfolio risk management.

Demonstrated ability to manage regulatory relationships and ensure compliance with local and international financial regulations and supervisory expectations.

Proven experience in risk advisory to Boards and Executive Committees, with the capability to present risk intelligence and influence strategic decisions.

Strategic leadership experience in high-performing risk or finance teams, with the ability to align divisional objectives with the institution's mandate and strategic direction.

Experience working with DFIs, multilateral institutions, international lenders, commercial banks, particularly in relation to funding compliance, banking regulatory requirements, and cross-border credit risk.


Desirable Requirements



Professional qualifications such as Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Chartered Accountant [CA(SA)]

Experience in developing and executing enterprise risk management strategies aligned to regulatory frameworks such as PFMA.

Technical Competencies:

Risk Management Commercial business acumen Strategic Planning Financial Acumen Presentation Skills Business Development Development of Policies / Regulations Sector Expertise
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Required Personal Attributes

Leadership/Behavioural Competencies:

Leading & Empowering Others Leading & Managing Change Strategic Planning & Innovative Thinking Teamwork & Cooperation Developing Others Driving delivery of results * Decisiveness