Portfolio Management & Credit Approvals – Assistant Manager

Overview

The Assistant Manager – Portfolio Management & Credit Approvals is responsible for overseeing the overall health and performance of the company's lending portfolio while ensuring sound and disciplined credit approval decisions. This role combines portfolio management, credit risk assessment, and strategic decision-making to balance portfolio quality, customer outcomes, and business growth.

Working closely with cross-functional teams, the role provides portfolio insights, strengthens credit governance, improves risk management practices, and supports continuous enhancements to credit policies and operational efficiency.

Responsibilities

Portfolio Management

• Monitor and manage the overall performance and quality of the lending portfolio to ensure healthy portfolio growth and sustainable business performance.
• Develop and enhance portfolio monitoring frameworks and early warning processes to proactively identify potential credit risks and customer repayment issues.
• Analyze customer repayment behavior, portfolio trends, and risk indicators to identify emerging risks and recommend appropriate mitigation strategies.
• Develop customer segmentation and portfolio management strategies based on repayment performance, customer behavior, and portfolio quality.
• Conduct portfolio performance analysis, including trend analysis, customer segmentation, delinquency monitoring, and portfolio concentration assessments.
• Develop account management strategies and action plans for medium- and high-risk customer segments.
• Work closely with internal stakeholders to improve customer repayment outcomes and recommend restructuring or repayment solutions for customers experiencing financial difficulties.
• Monitor overdue accounts and recommend appropriate portfolio interventions, repayment plans, restructuring options, or settlement strategies.
• Identify portfolio risks and recommend enhancements to portfolio management policies, processes, and risk controls.

Credit Approvals

• Review, assess, and approve credit applications within delegated approval authority while ensuring compliance with internal credit policies and risk standards.
• Perform comprehensive credit assessments by evaluating applicants' financial profiles, repayment capacity, credit history, banking activities, supporting documentation, and overall creditworthiness.
• Exercise sound commercial judgment to balance portfolio quality, risk management, and business growth objectives.
• Make well-supported credit decisions, including approvals, conditional approvals, or declines, with clear rationale and proper documentation.
• Escalate exceptional cases or policy deviations with appropriate recommendations.
• Ensure consistency and quality in credit approval decisions while maintaining strong governance and compliance standards.
• Mentor and provide guidance to Credit Analysts on complex credit assessments and underwriting decisions.
• Conduct quality reviews of approved applications and identify fraud risks, documentation inconsistencies, and emerging credit concerns.
• Recommend improvements to credit policies, underwriting guidelines, and approval processes based on portfolio performance and market trends.
• Collaborate with Product, Data, and Technology teams to improve credit decision models and automation initiatives.

Data Analytics & Business Intelligence

• Analyze portfolio performance using internal and external data to identify business trends, emerging risks, and growth opportunities.
• Prepare portfolio dashboards, management reports, and analytical insights to support strategic decision-making.
• Provide data-driven recommendations to improve portfolio performance, credit quality, and operational efficiency.
• Identify opportunities to enhance reporting capabilities, automation, and portfolio monitoring processes.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with Credit, Collections, Financial Literacy, Product, Data, and Engineering teams to ensure alignment between portfolio performance,
• customer outcomes, and business objectives.
• Support new product initiatives by providing portfolio insights and credit risk recommendations.
• Participate in continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen portfolio management, credit governance, and operational excellence across the organization.

Qualifications

Must-Have Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Finance, Business, Economics, Accounting, Mathematics, or a related field.
• Minimum 7–9 years of experience in Portfolio Management, Credit Approvals, Loan Restructuring, Collections Strategy, or related credit risk functions.
• Prior experience within Fintech, Digital Lending, Consumer Finance, Banking, or other Financial Services industries.
• Proven experience managing consumer or SME lending portfolios and approving unsecured lending applications.
• Strong understanding of portfolio management, credit risk assessment, repayment behavior, loan restructuring, and portfolio performance analysis.
• Experience developing and managing Early Warning Systems and portfolio monitoring frameworks.
• Strong analytical thinking, commercial judgment, and structured problem solving capabilities.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, including financial modeling, dashboard creation, portfolio analysis, and scenario modeling.
• Working knowledge of BigQuery.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and decision-making skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in fast-growing fintech or digital lending organizations.
• Knowledge of Power BI or Tableau for business intelligence and reporting.
• Experience using Python for portfolio analytics or data analysis.
• Experience working with large-scale consumer lending or SME lending portfolios.
• Strong understanding of portfolio analytics, risk management, and credit policy development.
• Experience collaborating with cross-functional teams to drive automation and process improvements.

Key Attributes

• Strong analytical mindset with excellent problem-solving abilities.
• Sound commercial judgment and balanced decision-making skills.
• High level of ownership, accountability, and integrity.
• Strong negotiation and stakeholder management capabilities.
• Ability to make informed credit decisions under pressure while balancing business growth and risk management.
• Excellent attention to detail and ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Collaborative leadership style with strong cross-functional communication skills.
• Proactive mindset with a continuous improvement approach toward portfolio management, credit governance, and operational excellence.
• Ability to leverage data and analytics to support strategic business decisions and improve portfolio performance.