Credit remains the largest source of income and the largest source of risk for most banks, microfinance institutions and SACCOs. Rising non-performing loans, tighter capital requirements and competition from digital lenders have put pressure on institutions to approve good loans faster while keeping tight control over quality. Improvement often depends less on new products than on how the credit process is run each day.

This programme treats lending as an end-to-end operational process. Participants examine origination, credit appraisal, structuring, approval, documentation, disbursement, monitoring, collection and recovery, and learn to identify where delays, errors and control failures arise. Core credit risk skills are strengthened through cash flow analysis, risk rating, collateral and covenant design, and expected credit loss provisioning. These are combined with process improvement methods including process mapping, service-level targets, root cause analysis and performance dashboards.

Participants work on loan case files and sample portfolio data, and redesign a lending workflow in groups. By the end they have a clear improvement plan, supported by metrics they can use to show results to management, auditors and regulators.

On completing the programme, participants will be able to:

• Map the end-to-end lending process and locate bottlenecks, errors and control gaps.
• Carry out structured credit analysis using financial spreading, cash flow and ratio techniques.
• Apply risk rating and collateral assessment consistently in credit decisions.
• Strengthen approval, documentation and disbursement controls.
• Recognise early warning signals and manage watchlist and restructured accounts.
• Explain the main features of expected credit loss provisioning under IFRS 9.
• Develop collection and recovery strategies that suit different arrears stages.
• Define and report portfolio quality and process performance indicators.

The programme will benefit lending professionals and those who oversee them, including:

• Credit analysts and credit officers
• Relationship and business banking managers
• Loan operations and credit administration staff
• Credit risk and portfolio managers
• Collections and recovery officers
• Microfinance and SACCO managers and loan officers
• Internal auditors and compliance officers reviewing lending
• Heads of credit and branch managers

Participants leave with:

• A process map of their lending cycle with delay and error points highlighted.
• A credit appraisal checklist covering analysis, collateral and documentation.
• A set of early warning indicators and a watchlist procedure.
• A dashboard outline for portfolio quality and turnaround performance.
• A collections and recovery playbook structured by arrears stage.
• An improvement plan with owners, targets and timelines.

The programme is structured around real credit work. Participants experience:

• Short expert inputs on each stage of the lending cycle
• Loan case files for hands-on appraisal and file review
• Process redesign workshops in small teams
• Portfolio data exercises for classification and provisioning
• Group presentation of an improvement plan with feedback

Participants who attend the programme and complete the case files and process exercises are awarded a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion by Vision Reach Global Consultancy.