Senior Manager: Risk Management Division at The South African Reserve Bank

Job description

Location: Head Office, Pretoria

Department description: Financial Markets Department

Brief description

The main purpose of this position is to provide leadership to Risk Management (RM in the Financial Markets Department (FMD) by developing policies, processes and procedures in terms of central bank best practice, to evaluate and recommend risk management systems, and to ensure that all risks emanating from the FMD’s domestic and international market and foreign reserve management operations are managed and effectively reported to relevant offices and committees in the South African Reserve Bank (the Bank).

Detailed description

• In addition to the general accountabilities listed above, the successful candidate will be responsible for the following key performance areas:
• Provide leadership to the RM team and act as a coach and mentor to risk analysts through a systematic skills transfer process.
• Provide strategic leadership to the RM team through research on best practise and methodologies coupled with the strategic initiatives of FMD.
• Enhance forecasting and modelling capabilities in RM.
• Facilitate the implementation of knowledge acquired from the latest research (e.g. journal articles) on risk management topics.
• Coordinate reporting on market developments relating to counterparties.
• Research and recommend strategic benchmarks and risk budgets for foreign-exchange reserves portfolios.
• Develop a framework and models to report overall risk and performance of both internally and externally managed portfolios.
• Develop a framework and models to report overall risk and activities of the domestic market operations.
• Recommend and implement changes to processes and tools that will result in continued process improvement.
• Maintain up-to-date workflow documentation, and note changes in processes as they occur for business continuity purposes.
• Keep abreast of industry best practice and technology improvements pertaining to the RM team’s functions.
• Manage key activities of RM, and maintain close contact and liaison with internal and external stakeholders.

Job requirements

To be considered for this position, candidates must:

• be in possession of a relevant postgraduate degree in Finance, Mathematics and/or Economics or an equivalent qualification;
• have a business background in finance, investments and risk management (i.e. portfolio management and risk management quantitative research);
• have ten years’ or more relevant work experience with at least five years’ experience in a management role, and proven professional leadership and ability to lead, coach and mentor team members;
• be proficient in Microsoft Excel, including the use of macros and other risk solutions;
• have proven quantitative and qualitative analytical skills, including familiarity with financial modelling techniques;
• have excellent communication skills in both verbal and written English, including report writing;
• have proven capacity to multi-task, deliver results and respond quickly and effectively to requests;
• be an original thinker with quick learning abilities, strong initiative and drive, and show attention to detail; and
• be an assertive team player with strong interpersonal skills, and the commitment to working in a team-orientated environment and resolve conflicts smoothly.

The following qualifications will be an added advantage:

• a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Professional Risk Manager (PRMIA) or Financial Risk Manager (FRM) qualification;
• sound background in financial accounting
• programming experience in Visual Basics, C, C++, SQL, MatLab;
• working knowledge of Barra or a similar analytical tool; and
• familiarity with Bloomberg or other major trading and risk systems