Unit Manager, Commercial Banking (Assets & Liabilities) Wholesale Banking

Job Purpose :

The Unit Manager – Commercial Banking lead the Commercial banking client portfolio (Assets & Liabilities), across mid-market, SME and upper SME clients. The role is responsible for building a high-quality lending book, managing a team of relationship managers (RMs/ SRMs), ensuring strong credit underwriting discipline, driving revenue growth, and maintaining roust risk and compliance standard in line with UAE central bank regulation and bank’s internal governance framework

Principal Accountabilities :

Business Development & Portfolio Growth

• Drive acquisition of new to bank relationships across Commercial segment defined.
• Deliver on annual asset growth targets (Working capital, loans, Trade finance and Cash Management products)
• Lead a team of relationship managers, to achieve business targets
• Build industry specify strategies
• Lead Cross-sell/Upsell initiatives from GTB & Treasury (Trade, Cash, FX & derivatives, Payments)
• Conduct Market research to identify new business opportunities and competitor strategies
• Ensure deepening of wallet share through structure finance and trade utilization

Credit & Risk Management

• Ensure high quality credit proposals, financials spreading, and cash -flow analysis
• Review credit applications for accuracy, compliance and risk appetite alignment
• Maintain portfolio quality through proactive monitoring of early warning signals (EWS)
• Manage overdue, restructuring, recovery actions in collaboration with credit/ SAM
• Uphold regulatory expectations: CBUAE guidelines, IFRS9, AML/ KYC Sanctions and ESG

Leadership & Team Management

• Lead, coach, and mentor a team of Relationship Managers and Assistant RMs.
• Conduct regular reviews of RM pipelines, call reports, and portfolio plans.
• Drive productivity benchmarks (average monthly asset booking, revenue/RM, pipeline coverage).
• Ensure training on products, credit skills, compliance and sales excellence.
• Instill a culture of integrity, governance and customer-centricity.

Client Management & Customer Experience

• Act as senior escalation point clients.
• Build strong client relationships, ensuring high service quality and fast TAT.
• Partner with Operations, GTB, Trade OPS, CCU, and Legal to ensure seamless delivery.
• Promote digital adoption (Online Banking, Cash Management Portal, API Banking, Mobile).

Governance Compliance & Risk Management

• Ensure full adherence to KYC/AML, Sanctions, Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) and onboarding rules.
• Maintain complete documentation, covenant monitoring and annual reviews.
• Enforce policy compliance for pricing, collateral, security documentation and facility usage.
• Support internal/external audits and close all observations on time.

Job Requirements :

• Bachelor's degree in finance, business, or a related field MBA or professional banking qualifications (ACCA, CFA, IFQ) preferred.
• 10+ years in SME/corporate banking, or financial services, with a proven track record in sales & relationship management and Team Management