Card issuing Manager- Retail Products

The Card Products Manager will be responsible for driving the launch, optimisation, growth, and profitability of debit, credit, and prepaid card products. The role combines product management, payments, customer experience, commercial performance, risk management, and operational execution to ensure card products remain competitive, customer-focused, profitable, and operationally sound.

The successful candidate will work across multiple functions including Card Operations, Sales, Digital Banking, Branch Banking, Risk, Fraud, Compliance, Finance, Customer Experience, and IT. The position also involves working with external card schemes, payment processors, technology vendors, personalisation bureaus, and other service providers to deliver effective card solutions.

Key Responsibilities

Financial and Commercial Performance

• Drive card portfolio profitability through product enhancements and pricing reviews.

• Conduct cost-benefit assessments for card initiatives.

  

• Drive card revenue lines and improve overall portfolio profitability.

• Identify opportunities to increase card activation, usage, transaction volumes, customer spend, and lifecycle value.

• Recommend initiatives to reduce voluntary customer attrition and improve portfolio health.

• Identify new card-use opportunities and develop programmes that generate incremental revenue.

• Monitor the commercial performance of card products.

• Ensure efficient utilisation of card-issuance budgets.

• Manage and monitor vendor-related costs associated with card issuance.

Internal Business Processes

• Manage card-product launches and enhancement projects within approved timelines and budgets.

• Streamline card policies, pricing updates, and operational processes.

• Develop efficient and controlled card onboarding and issuance processes.

• Work with Risk, Fraud, and Operations teams to strengthen controls and reduce fraud exposure.

• Ensure compliance with card-scheme rules, regulatory requirements, and internal bank policies.

• Work with Card Operations and IT to ensure accurate system configuration and issuance readiness.

• Monitor card-issuance processes and identify opportunities for greater efficiency.

• Support the implementation of new card technologies and issuing solutions.

Customer Experience

• Review customer feedback to assess whether product positioning matches the actual customer experience.

• Participate in customer surveys and support achievement of targeted NPS and CSAT metrics.

• Champion customer-centric card-product design.

• Conduct retrospective reviews and analyse customer feedback to identify improvement opportunities.

• Work with Customer Experience, Branch Banking, and Sales teams to resolve card-related customer issues within agreed SLAs.

• Ensure consistent and seamless card journeys across different customer channels.

• Identify recurring customer pain points and recommend product or process improvements.

Learning and Growth

• Promote innovation, ownership, and continuous improvement within card issuing.

• Build strong relationships with stakeholders across the bank.

• Develop expertise in card products, payment-industry trends, and emerging card-issuing solutions.

• Keep up to date with developments in card technology, payment schemes, customer behaviour, and issuing practices.

• Influence cross-functional teams to successfully deliver strategic card initiatives.

• Share knowledge and best practices with relevant teams.

Qualifications and Requirements

Applicants should have:

• A Bachelor’s degree from a recognised university.

• A Master’s degree in Strategic Management, Business Administration, or a related field is an added advantage.

• Strong understanding of the card-issuing lifecycle.

• Good knowledge of card schemes, card operations, risk controls, and operational processes.

• Experience in product launches and product enhancement initiatives.

• Experience in policy management and pricing reviews.

• Strong stakeholder-management capabilities.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

• A customer-focused and commercially oriented approach.

• Minimum five to seven years of experience in Card Products, Card Issuing, Payments, or Product Management.

• Relevant experience within the financial-services sector.

• Strong knowledge of banking products, card operations, systems, and internal policies.

• Ability to use customer insights and data to develop practical product and service improvements.

• Ability to coordinate cross-functional teams and external partners.

• Strong communication and influencing skills.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver initiatives within agreed deadlines.

Ideal Competencies

The successful candidate should demonstrate:

• Strong banking and payments knowledge.

• Product-management capability.

• Commercial and analytical thinking.

• Customer-experience orientation.

• Cross-functional leadership.

• Strong stakeholder management.

• Strategic thinking and execution.

• Innovation and continuous-improvement mindset.

• Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.

• Ability to work effectively in a changing financial-services environment.

NCBA Core Values

Candidates are expected to demonstrate NCBA's core values:

• Driven – Passionate, innovative, willing to take informed decisions, and committed to continuous improvement.

• Open – Honest, transparent, inclusive, and respectful when working with customers and colleagues.

• Responsive – Proactive and customer-focused, with a commitment to timely and effective solutions.

• Trusted – Demonstrating integrity, accountability, reliability, and ethical conduct.

Behavioural Competencies

• Emotional intelligence.

• Social and cross-cultural awareness.

• Adaptability and agility.

• Professionalism.

• Collaboration.

• Customer focus.

• Influencing and stakeholder management.

• Continuous learning.

• Innovation and ownership.

Key Stakeholders

The role will work closely with:

• Card Operations.

• Sales teams.

• Digital Banking.

• Branch Network.

• Corporate Banking.

• Customer Experience.

• Risk and Fraud teams.

• Compliance.

• Finance.

• Information Technology.

• Card schemes.

• Payment processors.

• Card personalisation bureaus.

• Technology vendors.

• Courier and other card-service partners.

Decision-Making Authority

The position involves:

• Recommending card-issuing strategies and product enhancements.

• Recommending pricing and customer-experience initiatives.

• Recommending process improvements.

• Coordinating cross-functional teams responsible for card launches and enhancements.

• Managing card initiatives within delegated authority.

• Overseeing card-issuance workflows and customer escalations within approved policies.

• Supporting service recovery and operational improvements.

Final Thought

The Card Products Manager role is suited to an experienced banking or payments professional with a strong background in card issuing, product management, and financial-services operations. The ideal candidate should combine commercial awareness with technical knowledge of card products, strong customer-experience skills, and the ability to coordinate complex initiatives across Operations, IT, Risk, Fraud, Sales, and external payment partners.