Beehive prides itself on having kept a consistently low default rate over its first five years. The main reason for this is the robust credit assessment process that Saj, Beehive’s Senior Credit Manager shared with us in his interview.
We are now with Abiha Ahmed, Beehive’s Business Analyst and part of the credit team, to walk us through her role in the overall credit assessment process.
Hello Abiha, can you tell me about your role in the credit assessment process?
Part of the credit assessment process is doing an external check on the business. It includes running an Al Etihad Credit Bureau (AECB) report, checking if the owner and shareholders have any police cases, and conducting site visits or pre-funding inspections.
Pre-funding inspections or onsite inspections of a business are an invaluable part of the loan approval process.
What are the things you need to check when conducting a site visit?
Before funding any transaction, we need to complete a site visit at the place of the business requesting for funds. We provide an unbiased perspective of the business and its location.
I meet with the owner or shareholder and ask them questions about the business and their personal life. I need to gauge his or her interest in the business and assess their ties to the country to see if they could be a potential runaway client.
In terms of deciding whether to approve a business or not, what do you factor in?
In making my final decisions about the business, some of the factors I consider are:
1. Current debt exposure
2. Loss given default
3. Probability of default
4. Current market situation
Since the Coronavirus outbreak, how are you managing to do onsite visits especially during the lockdown period?
During the lockdown period we’ve been doing more online meetings with clients, and we will visit them in person once the situation allows.
During online meetings businesses explain the changes in the setting of their office and staff and whether they are still operating, or if they need to close the business for a while due to inability to trade. They also need to let us know their other source of cash generation.
Do these additional measures cause a delay in approving the business?
No, they do not cause any delay. These additional measures are there to make sure the business will not face difficulties in making repayments and to protect investors’ capital.
Do you have any other responsibilities at Beehive?
Yes, I also do other credit operational tasks such as monthly reviews of Customer Finance (CF), clients, and existing client reviews. Since we started working remotely, I do more of the AECB report review along with the online meetings.
Brilliant! Now let us talk more about you. How do you manage your tasks and what are your go-to productivity tricks?
I start my day by assessing my daily objectives and I always make sure to list my tasks, prioritizing the crucial or urgent ones. In my role, I need to focus on one thing at a time to make sure that my reports are accurate and correct as it will have a huge impact on the final decision on whether to approve a business or not.
Aside from Beehive, what do you enjoy doing when you are not working?
I am a cat person, so I always spend time with my cats when I am not working. I have three cats to be exact – two of them were adopted and the third one was rescued a few weeks ago. So, imagine the challenge while we are working from home!
