Experience

Maitland

• South Africa
• Financial Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Senior Middle Office Specialist (Hedge Funds SA, North American Operations)

  • May 2020 - Present

  My primary responsibility is for the accounting, valuation, and reporting of client funds on a daily basis, providing full reconciliation of all cash, positions, interest and dividends to clients, as well as delivering monthly GAV products to our team based in Halifax. The role also requires regular assistance and communication with our Halifax-based office to contribute to the enhancement of our daily product to clients. I am also responsible for the efficient and seamless transition of funds back and forth between our local SA office and our Halifax-based office. Some other key responsibilities include:• Reviewing the accurate entry of trade and reconciliation data;• Communicating and delivering reporting to the client directly, on a daily basis;• Communicating and responding to queries from my local based team and the North American office, and assisting managers in resolving such queries;• Building a strong relationship with our Halifax-based team to ensure the clients receive the best possible service;• Providing mentorship and guidance to junior accountants, and ensuring the accurate reconciliation of cash and positions;• Reviewing processes to assess continuous improvement opportunities, and presenting recommendations to management;• Performing valuation quality assurance reviews and ensuring consistent quality of output;• Maintaining and continuously updating the process documentation for funds.

• Senior Middle Office Specialist (Hedge Funds SA, LATAM Operations)

  • Apr 2019 - Apr 2020

  My primary role is focusing on the daily NAV product, setup and client onboarding of Brazilian funds as well as taking control of the team when the manager is not available. I also interact with our Cayman-based team on a regular basis to assist with the enhancement of our daily product to clients. I was also responsible for the migration of funds from our South African office to our Cayman-based office. Some other key responsibilities include:• Reconciliation – Solid understanding of trade, positions, PNL and cash reconciliations, futures and forward FX reconciliations, setup of new reconciliation templates using Microsoft Excel;• Trade capture – Setup of trade interfaces using extract, transform, load (ETL) tools;• Understanding of data feed setups – FTP/SFTP, PGP encryption support and maintaining related Business Manager (BM) jobs;• Advanced level understanding of various asset types (Listed and OTC derivatives) that are predominantly employed by fund managers;• Advanced level understanding and experience on the valuation of these assets in Geneva and Bloomberg;• Building a strong relationship with our Cayman-based team to ensure the smooth and successful transition of funds from South Africa to Cayman;• Assisting in the management of new business client implementation process and taking the process to the finish line by rolling the NAV packs when required;• Training & development – Training interns and contract workers on daily responsibilities, interface mapping and BM workflow/job setups.

• Portfolio Specialist (Hedge Funds)

  • Jan 2018 - Mar 2019

  My primary responsibility was to manage, administer and account for the North American client hedge funds that are complex in nature by administering the funds efficiently, accurately and within daily/monthly deadlines. The role also required regular assistance and communication with our Halifax-based office on daily delivery of the product to clients. I was instrumental in servicing one of our more complex clients in the Brazilian market that aided the company in obtaining more business from the client. Some other key responsibilities included:• Responsibility for the accounting, valuation, and reporting of client funds that are complex in nature, providing full reconciliation of all cash, positions, interest and dividends to manager, broker and other sources;• Achieving deliverables against agreed deadlines and managing expectations of clients;• Providing mentorship and guidance to senior portfolio accountants and management, assisting in the review of fund valuations prepared by them, and ensuring the accurate calculation of all security types and fund valuations;• Responsibility for maintaining and continuously updating fund process documentation;• Reviewing the accurate entry of trade and reconciliation data;• Resolving system based queries impacting the accuracy of position and PNL valuations;• Communicating and responding to queries from our North American offices, and assisting team leaders and managers in resolving such queries;• Standing in as a back-up for colleagues.

• Senior Fund Accountant (US Hedge Funds)

  • May 2015 - Dec 2017

  My primary responsibility was to manage, administer and account for investment products (including hedge funds) within daily and monthly deadlines as well as setting up and ensuring checklists and standards were adhered to. I was also responsible for end to end migration of funds from our North American offices to our South African office, I was instrumental in migrating key clients to South Africa as part of this project. Some other key responsibilities included:• Ensuring the accurate calculation of fund valuations, including NAV's;• Performing quality assurance valuation reviews;• Dealing with client queries and audit queries;• Processing fund expense payments from operating accounts;• Preparing process documentation for key funds from scratch;• Improving/streamlining fund processes;• Assisting the data integration team with process improvements;• Training/assisting junior staff members of the team in performing their daily tasks.

• Fund Accountant (Local Hedge Funds)

  • May 2013 - Apr 2015

  My primary responsibility was to efficiently and accurately administer investment products in our local Hedge Fund Administration division, which included hedge funds and fund of fund valuations. Some other key responsibilities included:• Accounting for different types of financial assets and liabilities including collective investments, shares, hedges, unlisted stocks, bonds, swaps and OTC derivatives etc;• Investigating discrepancies and ensuring the accurate calculation of fund valuations (daily, weekly and monthly requirements);• Reconciling bank and scrip holdings to third parties;• Generation and distribution of investor statements and contract notes;• Communicating and responding to queries internally and from the client, assisting team leaders and managers in resolving such queries;• Learning and becoming proficient on new systems in a short space of time;• Training/assisting junior staff members within the team.



Caledonian Global Financial Services

• Financial Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Fund Accountant

  • Jan 2007 - Feb 2013

  My primary responsibility was the end to end processing of monthly fund valuations, as well as working closely with fund managers on a regular basis. Some other key responsibilities included:• Preparation and calculation of periodic Net Asset Values;• Shareholder services for a portfolio of different Mutual Funds, including subscriptions, redemptions and shareholder records in general;• Liaising with fund managers and their advisors on a regular basis;• Responding to/resolving issues or requests that might arise during the calculation of periodic Net Asset Values;• Preparation of all investor communication, including financial statements and investment reports;• Thorough understanding of different types of entity structures, including Fund of Funds and Master / Feeder Funds (registered in various offshore jurisdictions);• Preparation of relevant US tax calculations and documents.