On Friday 13 October, 2017, the first non-cash collateral exposure between A2X Markets and one of its brokers was successfully reported and settled using Strate’s Tri-Party Collateral Management Services. This came just over a week after A2X Markets had announced it was operational and settling transactions on a T+3 settlement cycle using Strate’s settlement infrastructure.
Instead of placing cash to cover the capital exposure requirement (where cash is typically required to cover market and settlement risk), Strate’s collateral solution also enables broker’s to place securities as collateral for their exposure risk on A2X. This frees up cash for the broker, allowing brokers to more efficiently use cash to fund other transactions.
“A2X is excited with the prospects that Strate’s Collateral Management System adds to the market in reducing the risk between trade date and settlement date. Strate’s Collateral Management System brings about high levels of automation and the calling of collateral is seamless to the users,” says Brett Kotze, Head Post-Trade Services at A2X Markets.
Beverley Furman, the Managing Executive of CSD Operations at Strate, adds: “The capital markets are evolving and Strate has been nimble in developing premier solutions that cater for such dynamic players. A2X has an innovative business model that further decreases risk and capital costs for brokers, which ties into Strate’s philosophy of creating solutions that are efficient, reduce risk and add value to stakeholders. We are proud to be partnering with A2X Markets and its clients for both settlement and collateral solutions.”
Financial services companies, African Rainbow Capital Investments (AIL), Peregrine Holdings (PGR) and Coronation Fund Managers (CML) are the first counters to have a secondary listing on A2X Markets. It has approved RMB Morgan Stanley, Peregrine Securities, Investec Securities and Avior Capital Markets as its stockbrokers, with more brokerages expected to be approved in coming weeks.
A2X Markets was officially granted its licence by the Financial Services Board in April 2017, then becoming the country’s fourth licensed South African exchange and Strate’s newest client. It is targeting many of the largest companies currently listed on the JSE, to secondary list on A2X Markets. It says it is also offering brokers material discounts to transact in these shares, while maintaining the high standard of regulation as set by the Financial Market Act.
To provide you with a holistic understanding of the impact emerging FinTechs will have on the future of financial services, GIBS partnered with Strate to host the Fintech Innovation Conference during August 2017.
The videos for the following topics are now available online:
South African Central Securities Depository (CSD), Strate, has confirmed that all the milestones necessary to proceed with its Debt Instrument Solution (DIS) Project have been met. This landmark has been achieved through an extended period of commitment and testing involving all market stakeholders.
Strate is, therefore, pleased to announce that 22-26 September 2017 has been set aside for the formal implementation of the new system – with Tuesday 26 September 2017 being earmarked as the first day of operation using the new DIS platform.
We thank you for your support and look forward to your continued focus and dedication to achieving this successful transformation for the South African capital markets.
Strate would like to announce that its CEO, Monica Singer, will be leaving Strate at the end of August 2017 to fulfil her dream of living in Cape Town and to pursue new opportunities.
After being at Strate for almost two decades, and being its project manager since inception, Monica has been committed to the success of Strate. During her tenure, she was responsible for the introduction of electronic settlement for the South African financial markets and ensured that Strate became globally recognized as being one of the most progressive Central Securities Depositories.
Monica’s entrepreneurial spirit, together with her visionary leadership, has established an organization that embraces being a Conscious Company that creates shared value for all stakeholders.
“I have always had a passion for innovation and technology that drives societal change. With the potential disruption that the financial markets may face, particularly with disruptive technologies like blockchain, I will continue to research to stay ahead of developments which may lead me to consulting on these topics,” says Monica.
As the Vice President of the Africa & Middle East Depositories Association (AMEDA) together with her role in the World Forum of CSDs (WFC), Americas’ Central Securities Depositories Association (ACSDA) and her contribution in the last 18 years to the International Securities Services Association (ISSA), she created a network that will continue to share ideas at an international level.
Strate’s strategic objectives will continue to be executed by its long-standing executive team, along with Dr. Maria Vermaas who has been appointed as Strate’s Interim CEO. Dr. Vermaas has been at Strate as its Head of the Legal and Regulatory Division since the beginning.
“The Board, together with the Executive team and staff, would like to thank Monica for her contribution to Strate and the legacy that she has left behind. We would like to wish her all the best for her future endeavours,” says Strate Chairman Rob Barrow.
For further queries, please contact Leigh Bevis, Strate’s Head of Marketing and Business Development, via leighb@strate.co.za, or via +27(0)11 759 5466.
The 24 financial market players who form part of the SA financial blockchain consortium (SAFBC) have been recognised for their blockchain research efforts in the Banker Technology Projects of the Year Awards 2017. The Banker is owned by the Financial Times and is one of the world’s premier banking and finance resources, read in over 180 countries.
Formed in 2016, the consortium aims to redefine the South African financial system based on blockchain technology, which has tremendous promise to improve transaction speeds and reduce costs that will help address financial exclusion issues. Members of the Fractal Solutions team at Strate Chair the IT Stream of the SAFBC and are the Secretariat as well for the consortium.
Members of the SAFBC are: ABSA, AlexanderForbes, BankservAfrica, Bowmans, Capitec, Curo Fund Services, Citadel Wealth Management, Finswitch, FirstRand, FNB, Ince, Investec, JSE, Nedbank, PASA, Rand Merchant Bank, Sanlam, Silica, Standard Bank, Standard Chartered, Strate, ZAR X, FSB (observer), SARB (observer).
According to the magazine, SAFBC is exploring different technologies, including Ethereum, Chain, Hyperledger and Corda. “The consortium is attempting to show how this technology is a paradigm shifter. The historic assumptions that were taken for granted, such as digital money intimately tied with credit risk against the institution holding the money, as well as the entire concept of fractional-reserve banking, are being questioned, and this questioning is allowing a whole host of possibilities to emerge, pointing to a much better financial system that better serves the needs of customers and clients of the industry, according to SAFBC,” it reads.
The SAFBC acknowledges its collaboration between members as the key recipe for its success.
Regulation for cleared and non-cleared derivatives has driven the themes of collateral transparency, segregation, collateral tracking , standard reporting requirements and eligibility. Upcoming regulation, such as Secured Funding Transaction Reporting (SFTR), is further driving these themes at a transactional level for securities lending and borrowing, margin lending, commodities lending and borrowing and repurchase transactions. It is clear that the administrative burden on secured funding transactions is only going to increase in the foreseeable future, especially as collateralisation takes place on a per security basis. It is therefore critical to have certainty that each transaction undertaken, whether on a pledge or cession basis, fully complies with local market regulations in an efficient manner.
Strate offers a Tri-Party collateral product called Strate Collateral Management Services (SCMS), which is offered in addition to the traditional pledge and cession options. SCMS fully automates collateralisation processes between collateral givers and receivers, as well as the underlying post-trade ‘plumbing’, to ensure that transactions are effected efficiently and in compliance with local regulations, while futureproofing against upcoming regulations. This functionality fully alleviates the administrative burden typically associated with both pledge and cession transactions. This is achieved by Strate’s direct integration to the CSD Participants of collateral givers and receivers, and the use of segregated depository accounts. The solution is abstracted above the settlements layer and is able to manage complex collateral rules and then automatically execute the most optimal collateral by instructing custodians in an efficient, compliant and accurate manner.
Typically, pledging at a securities level has been a significant administrative burden. However, with SCMS, pledges are perfected at a securities level in terms of Section 39(1) of the Financial Markets Act via an automated system in just a few minutes, with no manual intervention or administration required from users. This enables highly efficient intra-day collateral substitutions on an unlimited basis. SCMS further extends this automation by allowing collateral givers to trade out of a single account, while at the same time enabling both cession and pledge of securities at an ISIN level – as corporate events, pending sales and reserved securities are already factored into the solution’s algorithm. Collateral optimisation is thus enabled for collateral givers, as they will not be required to manage collateral between separate collateral accounts and keep ‘buffer’ collateral in order to meet needs of multiple collateral receivers.
The SCMS solution is already live in the South African market and has enabled the automated use of both pledge and cession constructs across multiple exposure types and categories of financial and non-financial institutions.
If you are interested in learning more about our Tri-Party Collateral Services, please contact collateral@strate.co.zaor Steve Everett on +27 11 7595496.
South African market participants can now enjoy unprecedented automation and straight-through processing by leveraging newly available, integrated cloud-based technology to exchange tri-party SWIFT1 messaging for collateral instructions, settlement and confirmations. CloudMargin, the multi-award winning creator of the world’s first web-based collateral and margin management solution, and Strate, the South African Central Securities Depository (CSD) and South Africa’s first Tri-Party Collateral Management Agent, today announced that they have just integrated their platforms. The move makes tri-party messaging and collateral optimisation more accessible for both buy- and sell-side participants in the country.
The agreement enables clients to efficiently and seamlessly use their collateral held at Strate to cover their margin calls in the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market. For local market participants without their own SWIFT membership, this previously would have been a time-consuming, manual process to handle messaging related to collateral instructions, confirmations and settlement. Now, they can take advantage of the CloudMargin and Strate Collateral Management Services straight-through processing capability via SWIFT.
Due to the fact that the solution is cloud based, collateral management clients can implement it quickly at a reasonable cost, the firms said.
Lee McCormack CloudMargin Head of Strategy, said: “We are delighted to roll out this breakthrough service in conjunction with Strate Collateral Management Services to market participants in South Africa, helping them increase their efficiencies via our cloud-based platform. We are continuing to build an inter-connected network of organisations globally that give clients one-stop access to a broad range of collateral management and other related services for cleared and uncleared derivatives transactions.”
Steve Everett, General Manager of Strate Collateral Management Services, said: “We are delighted to partner with CloudMargin to provide a fully integrated, cost-effective and powerful collateral management capability to the South African market. This comes at a time when firms here are preparing to meet the requirements of the non-cleared OTC derivatives margin regulation due to take effect on Sept. 1, which will require enhanced collateral management capability from both the buy-side and the sell-side.”
CSD Working Group on DLT, an association of Central Securities Depositories working on developing reference products using Distributed Ledger Technology, has released product requirements for the proxy voting business case during the International Securities Services Association (ISSA) Operational Committee meeting in London on April 24, 2017.
The document titled “General Meeting Proxy Voting on Distributed Ledger: Product Requirements” contains requirements to all technical aspects of the product:
Functional requirements for the process, described as a minimal viable product aimed at a generic market, and extension functionality that covers specific local needs of the markets in Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, Chile, Nordic and Baltic countries.
Non-functional requirements.
Trust requirements, enabling to provide the value typically associated with DLT-based solutions.
Baseline data entities, roles and their access rights.
The document aims to provide a complete description of a reference product for proxy voting – one that can be used by business in most markets worldwide. The priorities of the working group were to capture the business value of using DLT in the field of proxy voting without completely reworking established business practices.
Alexander Chekanov, Enterprise Architect at NSD, the leader of the working group, says: “With this effort, we aim to provide clarity to the infrastructure operators and market participants in how to implement DLT-based solutions in their local markets and to create value associated with the technology. Proxy Voting has served as an excellent business case where the advantages are both visible and easy to achieve without causing a major disruption on the market. For NSD in particular, it is one of the many steps that we take to make Russian post-trade infrastructure more open and reliable for both the local market and internationally”.
Monica Singer, CEO of Strate, says: “Strate has always maintained that collaboration with key market players and experts leads to the successful implementation of industry-wide projects that add significant value to the markets. Distributed ledger technology has opened the doors to a new world of how people can transact and we’re excited to be an integral part of this journey, where we’re changing history. Together with other working group members, we have embraced this technology to improve the financial markets and are excited at the progress being made on proxy voting using distributed ledger technology”.
Javier Jara, Commercial and Legal Affairs Manager at DCV, says: “For the Central Securities Deposit of Chile, it is very important to be part of this project as one of the representatives of Latin America, it implies being in the leadership of projects that use Blockchain technology for Securities Deposits. In particular, this project of Proxy Voting raised the common requirements to all markets, allowing the incorporation of extensions that adapt to other specific markets, so when this project reaches the Chilean market, will already be thought of local needs. We hope to continue working with our colleagues from other Central Securities Depositaries around the world, to increase in the collaboration and support in adaptations and developments in new technologies”.
The document has been produced by the working group during the period between October 2016 and April 2017 and involved collaboration between NSD, Strate (South African CSD), SIX Securities Services (European ICSD based in Switzerland), Nasdaq (CSD in Nordic and Baltic region) and DCV (CSD of Chile). The presentation to the ISSA Operational Committee in London on April 24th was the first public reveal of the document.
The group is continuing to work on the business case of proxy voting on DLT. Future updates of the document will be focused on:
business value distillation for infrastructure operators and market participants,
standardization and formal alignment with the existing market practices and ISO20022 standard,
extensions for more markets worldwide.
The latest version of the document is available online (Click here).
The CSD Working Group on DLT welcomes any feedback or collaboration opportunities from potential partners. To get in touch with the working group, please contact one of the member organizations:
Strate was named the winner of the Inaugural Conscious Companies Awards held at an evening gala event on 11 May in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg.
There has been much to be said about the inclusivity of stakeholders to create and nurture shared value, as opposed to shareholder value, says Strate CEO Monica Singer. “Companies are typically seen as vessels with limited liability, no heart nor soul. However, to be acknowledged as a company that is recognized for bringing humanity to capitalism is amazing, because it shows that Strate has the heart and soul to make a fundamental difference in its ecosystem,” she says.
Given that the world is interoperable, Singer truly believes in Ubuntu and that ‘we are because you are’ and encourages businesses to recognize that they should be consciously making a positive impact to the stakeholders within the communities that they operate in.
Conscious companies, by their very definition, operate with a sense of higher purpose and recognise the inherent value of linking business success with the socio-economic upliftment of the rest of society. “Truly conscious companies understand the need to be authentic in what they do and in driving change for the greater good, showing that caring forms part of their DNA in everything that they do,” adds Singer.
Her desire to change the world led to the creation of a company that truly cares for and nurtures its employees. A company can create magic by caring for people, because those people will go on to achieve their form of greatness, creating ripples of change across society.
Monica Singer, Strate CEO, following the announcement naming Strate the award winner
“Since its inception, Strate has made it our end goal to put the needs of the country first by embracing solutions that simultaneously transform and revolutionise markets and empower South Africans. We started by digitizing securities settlement in the financial market because it was in the best interest of South Africa’s financial markets.”
Prior to the birth of Strate, the country was ranked the worst emerging market for operational and settlement risk. Daily trades on the stock exchanged average 4000 in a day. The company has spent the past two decades building on those capabilities for the benefit of all South Africans, and as a result, South Africa is now rated among the top economies globally for financial market development and regulation of its exchanges. Trades average 280 000 on a bad day in today’s market. “Our philosophy has been to sell trust and its purpose has always been to serve the market for the greater good, in everything we do,” she explains.
Strate’s success has been underpinned by the spirit of collaboration. “Twenty years ago, we worked together with the financial market to transform the way things worked. Over the years, we have been working with various companies to boost financial literacy. Interestingly, companies like the Maharishi Institute and Thomson Reuters are some of those companies, and they have too been recognized as finalists in the Conscious Companies awards. Going forward, we are working with various parties locally and globally to embrace disruptive technologies and how it will change the lives of people for the better.”
75 companies were nominated for the award. Nominees were judged against the criteria listed below, where the company:
• understands what it takes to be authentic
• operates with a higher sense of purpose
• integrates the interest of all stakeholders
• develops visionary leaders
• builds a culture of trust, accountability, governance and caring
• encourages creativity and innovation
• is a responsible citizen in the communities that they operate in
Strate put forward its evidence for the criteria, with many examples of collaboration to create shared value. The company put forward its education initiatives across the board, conducive working environment for employees, as well as efforts to uplift the Africa and Middle East region. Further to this was examples of how it reinvests in the financial markets by way of its Special Purpose Reserve Fund, a fund that collects fines for non-compliance with Strate’s Rules and Directives that then pays for market education initiatives – from grass root to the highest degrees in finance at some prestigious South African universities.
Prof. Mervyn King, together with Nomahlubi Simamane, Vukani Magubane and Dr. Essop Pahad formed the panel of judges. They selected finalists for the awards in two categories: The NGO/NPO/NPC category as well as Company category.
The winners in the NGO/NPO/NPC category were Afrika Tikkun, an organisation which is chaired by Singer. The Maharishi Institute’s Imvula Empowerment Fund was named the runner up.
The winner of the Company category was Strate, and Belgotex Floor Coverings was named the runner up.
“We would like to commend all companies recognized in the awards and others across the continent that share similar values. It reflects that we walk this journey together to secure a future that will bring prosperity to all,” concludes Singer.
South Africa has one of the most sophisticated financial markets and has earned a reputation for its sound financial market development. Looking to the next five years, A2X Markets CEO and co-founder Kevin Brady believes the market could become more dynamic and efficient as new exchanges are granted licences.
A2X Markets was officially granted its licence by the Financial Services Board in April 2017, becoming the country’s fourth licenced South African exchange and Strate’s newest client. During an interview at A2X’s offices in the heart of Sandton, Johannesburg, Brady had an informative discussion with Strate to describe his company’s business model and settlement cycle.
He explained that A2X, as an alternative exchange, would bring modern technology and the latest business techniques to an industry that’s been around for hundreds of years. “A2X will target many of the largest companies currently listed on the JSE, to secondary list on A2X. It will then offer brokers material discounts to transact in these shares, while maintaining the high standard of regulation as set by the Financial Market Act,” he says, while describing the exchange’s business model. By way of an example, he explained the secondary listing principal is well established in South Africa and is the same as a dual listing, where a company has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange, such as Anglo America and BHP Billiton, and a secondary listing on the JSE.
A2X’s model fits into the current capital markets structure, including adopting a familiar T+3 post-trade settlement cycle. “With that, we understand how vital it is to have a renowned and reliable settlement infrastructure, which is why we appointed Strate as the Central Securities Depository for A2X. Strate is open for business and it has been very welcoming of new exchanges.”
Beverley Furman, the Managing Executive of CSD Operations, a division of Strate, adds, “This is a very exciting time for our financial markets. As an investment destination, South African capital markets are unique in the sense that they operate on developed first-world infrastructure and the market is well regulated.” A testament to the regulation of the country’s stock exchanges is the ranking highlighted in the 2016-2017 World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index, which has placed South Africa as the third best ranked country globally (among 138 developed and developing nations) for the regulation of securities exchanges.
Furman concludes that Strate is proud to be part of this journey and to be recognized as the independent, trusted service provider within the market. “We are delighted to welcome A2X as the newest player to the South African capital markets and as Strate’s newest client.”
BSc Hons (Actuarial Science, Mathematical Statistics, Financial Markets), Associate Fellow of the Actuarial Society
Bhulesh is an actuary who joined the FirstRand group in 2007, holding various roles across group treasury and Rand Merchant Bank’s (RMB) global markets business. His responsibilities have included managing the group’s financial resources capital, funding, liquidity, asset and liability management and foreign exchange risk. He has experience in capital markets execution, structured finance and fixed income portfolio management.
His interests include financial sector policy, market development and aligning the financial system to better support the needs of the real economy.
Mathukana is a qualified chartered accountant with diverse work experience in corporate finance and financial management. Mathukana serves on various other boards and governance forums, including as an independent non-executive director of Sanlam Limited, City Lodge Hotel Group and STADIO Holdings Limited. She is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and the Institute of Directors South Africa (IODSA).
Non-executive Director
BCom (Wits), MBA (Gibs)
Rajesh is the Head: Investor Services and Bank Sector for Standard Bank’s Transaction Banking business. With over 28 years’ experience in banking, Rajesh has worked for two local banks and one international bank, predominantly in securities services.
Rajesh has a wealth of experience in the securities services industry in the South African market and across other markets in sub-Saharan Africa. He has held senior leadership positions in various disciplines within the securities service business including Head of Business Development, Head of Product Management, Head of Investor Services in Africa regions, South Africa and Group.
Rajesh gained extensive experience in foreign exchange and money market products across sub-Saharan Africa through a regional leadership role in FX and money market sales at an international bank. He also headed Standard Bank’s Cash Management business in South Africa for two years.
During his banking career, Rajesh participated in and led the delivery of large technology and change programmes, including channel solutions, processing systems, structural and product changes.
Rato de Mendonça
Non-executive Director
BCom (Wits), MBA (Gibs)
Rajesh is the Head: Investor Services and Bank Sector for Standard Bank’s Transaction Banking business. With over 28 years’ experience in banking, Rajesh has worked for two local banks and one international bank, predominantly in securities services.
Rajesh has a wealth of experience in the securities services industry in the South African market and across other markets in sub-Saharan Africa. He has held senior leadership positions in various disciplines within the securities service business including Head of Business Development, Head of Product Management, Head of Investor Services in Africa regions, South Africa and Group.
Rajesh gained extensive experience in foreign exchange and money market products across sub-Saharan Africa through a regional leadership role in FX and money market sales at an international bank. He also headed Standard Bank’s Cash Management business in South Africa for two years.
During his banking career, Rajesh participated in and led the delivery of large technology and change programmes, including channel solutions, processing systems, structural and product changes.
Hendrik Fourie
Non-executive Director (alternate)
MCom (UJ), MCom (Wits), CA(SA), MBA (Gibs), PhD Finance (in progress) (EDHEC, France)
Hendrik Fourie is an experienced financial professional with extensive expertise in institutional banking. He currently serves as Head of Institutional Client Group at RMB, where he oversees global teams managing client strategy. He has held various roles, including Head of Client Strategy and Head of Invest, responsible for managing investment strategies across Africa, the UK and the US, and co-Head of Global Securities Services, where he led strategic expansion and product innovations.
Helena Conradie
Independent Non-executive Director
BSc Mathematics and Applied Mathematics (Hons), MSc Applied Mathematics (cum laude)(SU), CFA charterholder
Helena Conradie is a seasoned business leader and former CEO of Satrix, the leading index-tracking business in South Africa. Helena led the indexation business from 2000, starting with a small quantitative team managing the first exchange traded fund (ETF) in South Africa, to a diversified business offering ETFs, unit trusts and segregated portfolios across the retail and institutional space. Helena co-founded TenFour Partners in 2022.
Helena Conradie
Independent Non-executive Director
BSc Mathematics and Applied Mathematics (Honours), MSc Applied Mathematics (cum laude)(SU), CFA charter holder
Helena is former CEO of Satrix, the leading provider of index-tracking products in South Africa, wholly owned by the Sanlam Group. Since joining Sanlam Investments in 2000, Helena has built up a highly regarded indexation business, which has over R140 billion in assets under management. Her team also manages the largest equity portfolio of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in South Africa. Under her strategic leadership, Satrix has built up a formidable offering of both vanilla, factor and global products, which are available in the retail and institutional markets across ETF, unit trust and segregated portfolios
Mark Murning
Independent Non-executive Director
BCom (Wits)
Mark has extensive experience in financial markets, having worked in several roles across the investment banking, capital market and asset management businesses within the Sanlam Group. Mark spent 26 years in the Sanlam Group, serving as the CEO of Sanlam Capital Markets and subsequently as CEO of Sanlam Specialised Finance. He has held several positions as a board member of divisional companies and on governance committees.
Kabelo Makwane
Independent Non-executive Director
MBA (Wits Business School) BCom (UKZN)
Kabelo Makwane has more than two decades of experience transforming the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) landscape. As the Country Director of Google South Africa, he leads the company’s presence, acting as its public face and fostering strategic partnerships with businesses, government and consumers. Makwane’s extensive background includes directing Vodacom Business’s Cloud, Hosting and Security division and leading Accenture’s BPO business across Africa and its Cloud/Technology Consulting. He also served as Microsoft’s Nigeria Country Managing Director and held regional leadership roles at Cisco and Unisys Africa, gaining a holistic view of the ICT sector.
Beyond Google, Makwane serves on various boards as a non-executive director in financial services, technology and the public sector.
Louisa Stephens
Independent Non-executive Director
BBusSc (UCT), BCom (Hons)(RAU), CA(SA), CD(SA)
Louisa is a chartered accountant, chartered director and independent trader. She is an experienced independent non-executive director serving a number of listed and unlisted companies. Louisa has experience in investment banking and private equity..
Helena Conradie
Independent Non-executive Director
BSc Mathematics and Applied Mathematics (Honours), MSc Applied Mathematics (cum laude)(SU), CFA charter holder
Helena is former CEO of Satrix, the leading provider of index-tracking products in South Africa, wholly owned by the Sanlam Group. Since joining Sanlam Investments in 2000, Helena has built up a highly regarded indexation business, which has over R140 billion in assets under management. Her team also manages the largest equity portfolio of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in South Africa. Under her strategic leadership, Satrix has built up a formidable offering of both vanilla, factor and global products, which are available in the retail and institutional markets across ETF, unit trust and segregated portfolios
Rajesh Ramsundhar
Non-executive Director
BCom (Wits), MBA (Gibs)
Rajesh is the Head: Investor Services and Bank Sector for Standard Bank’s Transaction Banking business. With over 28 years’ experience in banking, Rajesh has worked for two local banks and one international bank, predominantly in securities services.
Rajesh has a wealth of experience in the securities services industry in the South African market and across other markets in sub-Saharan Africa. He has held senior leadership positions in various disciplines within the securities service business including Head of Business Development, Head of Product Management, Head of Investor Services in Africa regions, South Africa and Group.
Rajesh gained extensive experience in foreign exchange and money market products across sub-Saharan Africa through a regional leadership role in FX and money market sales at an international bank. He also headed Standard Bank’s Cash Management business in South Africa for two years.
During his banking career, Rajesh participated in and led the delivery of large technology and change programmes, including channel solutions, processing systems, structural and product changes.
Sameera Dada
Sameera Dada is Strate’s Chief Financial Officer. Previously, she held the position of chief risk officer at Ashburton Investments. Prior to that she held numerous roles including heading risk management at MMI Investments and Savings and serving as a financial and investment risk manager at Momentum Asset Management.
André Nortjé
André Nortjé is Strate’s Chief Executive Officer. He has over 20 years of executive management experience across multiple financial services disciplines and across multiple jurisdictions with a deep understanding of financial markets from both the buy and sell side. Before joining Strate, André held numerous executive roles ranging from treasurer of a commercial bank to chief operating officer positions for several investment management businesses in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Strate Charity Shares
Strate Charity Shares (SCS) is an independent non-profit organisation, and joint market initiative from Strate, the JSE, ComputerShare and PSG who provide their services for free to realise the value locked up in odd lots of unwanted securities that could be used to support charitable causes.
It started with David Cobbett, a stockbroker, who had the idea of mobilising the millions of rands locked up in odd lots of shares in listed companies and using the funds for good causes. In 2001, he asked Tom Wixley, recently retired Ernst & Young chairman at the time, to help him make this dream a reality.
Market-wide engagement followed including with the Department of Social Welfare and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) who agreed that the value of any shares donated may be deducted from taxable income, as the scheme is registered under section 18A of the Income Tax Act.
Since its formation, Strate Charity Shares has given over R10 million to worthy causes that would otherwise have remained unused.
To view the Strate Charity Shares funding and reporting guidelines, click here
Strate Charity Shares
Strate Charity Shares (SCS) is an independent non-profit organisation, and joint market initiative from Strate, the JSE, ComputerShare and PSG who provide their services for free to realise the value locked up in odd lots of unwanted securities that could be used to support charitable causes.
It started with David Cobbett, a stockbroker, who had the idea of mobilising the millions of rands locked up in odd lots of shares in listed companies and using the funds for good causes. In 2001, he asked Tom Wixley, recently retired Ernst & Young chairman at the time, to help him make this dream a reality.
Market-wide engagement followed including with the Department of Social Welfare and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) who agreed that the value of any shares donated may be deducted from taxable income, as the scheme is registered under section 18A of the Income Tax Act.
Since its formation, Strate Charity Shares has given worthy causes over R10 million that would otherwise have remained unused.
To view the Strate Charity Shares funding and reporting guidelines, click here
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André Nortjé
Chief Executive Officer
BCom (Hons) Financial Management (UP), MCom Finance (cum laude)(Unisa)
André has over 30 years’ industry experience, most recently as the chief operating officer at Momentum Investments. Former roles include chief operating officers of Momentum Asset Management and the fixed income, equity and solutions businesses at Ignis Asset Management in London.
Samantha Cooper
Samantha Cooper is Head of Human Capital and Transformation. She has extensive experience in Human Capital Management. Samantha is a registered psychometrist and an accredited life coach. Before joining Strate, Samantha held a number of senior roles within the South African financial services sector.
Pheona Härtel
Pheona Härtel is Head of Risk, Legal and Compliance. She is experienced in overseeing risk disciplines and has worked for several blue-chip financial organisations in South Africa where, among other things, she has led operational process re-engineering; implemented, and expanded upon, compliance and governance principles; championed Treating Customers Fairly objectives; and provided strategic risk and governance inputs to CEOs and executives.
Beverley Furman
Beverley Furman is Head of Operations, responsible for operationalising Strate’s key services in a world-class manner. Bev, who has over 20 years’ experience in the financial markets, partners with Strate’s service heads to ensure operational delivery in an efficient, risk-aware and future-proof manner. She is also responsible for Strate’s change management capability. Previously, Bev was the Head of Strate Supervision, which she created in 2001 to supervise and monitor compliance by CSD Participants with South Africa’s securities legislation and the Financial Markets Act.
Rudi Steenkamp
Rudi Steenkamp is Head of Technology and Data Management. He oversees the entire IT function of Strate. Since joining the company through Strate’s merger with UNEXcor in 2003, Rudi has worked in the IT space for over 16 years. With one of the most advanced and sophisticated IT infrastructures for a CSD, Strate has achieved 99.995% uptime for the last four years and is one of the top 2% users of the SWIFT Network internationally.
Farzana Khan
Farzana Khan is Head of Collateral Services and Trade Repository. She most recently headed Rand Merchant Bank’s securities lending division and has over 22 years’ experience in the financial sector. Prior to Rand Merchant Bank, she held posts at Merrill Lynch S.A. and Standard Corporate & Merchant Bank. She is a registered securities trader with the JSE Securities Exchange, holds the designation for the Settlement Officer’s Exam and has the International Capital Markets Qualification from the South African Institute of Financial Markets.
Gregory Naicker
Gregory Naicker is Head of CSD Services. He has built up a career of over 20 years at Strate and has substantial institutional knowledge of the business, stakeholders and the markets, both in South Africa and internationally. His passion for Strate has led him to build credibility with internal and external stakeholders across the market.
Chris Edwards
Non-executive Director
BSocSci Philosophy, PGDip Management (UCT)
Chris joined Absa in March 2010 where he is a Managing Principal and Head of the Prime Services and Passive Funds businesses. Prior to joining Absa, Chris spent 11 years with Morgan Stanley, based in London and then Hong Kong. During this time, he held a variety of positions, including responsibility for the distribution within the Prime Brokerage & Listed Derivatives businesses. Chris is a Director of Absa Stockbrokers.
Nigel Payne
Independent Non-executive Chairman
BCom (Hons) (Rhodes) CIA, CA(SA), MBL (Unisa)
Nigel is a specialist in audit and risk matters along with substantial corporate structuring expertise. He serves as a non-executive director on a number of boards and is the Lead Independent Director of BidCorp Limited, the Chairman of Vukile Property Fund Ltd and Mr Price Group Limited and a former member of the King Committee.
Keith Getz
Lead Independent Non-executive Director
BProc, LLM (UCT)
Keith is an experienced lawyer in takeovers and mergers, private equity, corporate restructuring, black economic empowerment transactions, exchange control regulations, commercial law contracts and stock exchange listings. He also advises corporate clients nationally and internationally on corporate and commercial matters. Keith is a director of Mr Price Group Limited and Trematon Capital Investments Limited.
Sameera Dada
Chief Financial Officer
BCom (Hons) Accounting (UKZN), CA(SA), MComm Accounting (Wits), PGDip Business Practice (Henley Business School)
Sameera is Strate’s Chief Financial Officer. She was previously chief risk officer at Ashburton Investments and headed Risk Management at MMI Investments and Savings. She has served as a financial and investment risk manager at Momentum Asset Management, among other roles.
André Nortjé
Chief Executive Officer
BCom (Hons) Financial Management (UP), MCom Finance (cum laude)(Unisa)
André has over 30 years’ industry experience, most recently as the chief operating officer at Momentum Investments. Former roles include chief operating officers of Momentum Asset Management and the fixed income, equity and solutions businesses at Ignis Asset Management in London.
Christine Clark
Non-executive Director (alternate)
BCom (Wits) BCom Hons (Unisa) CA(SA)
Christine Clark has over 30 years’ experience within the financial markets sector, and specifically in corporate and investment banking. Currently, she holds the position of Global Markets Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Rand Merchant Bank. She was at Absa (formerly Barclays Bank) for eight years, serving in a number of roles in the Corporate and Investment Bank division including Managing Director: Global Markets COO as well as Director: Group Treasury COO of Banking – Group Treasury. Previously, she has worked at Citigroup, Gensec Bank (now Sanlam Capital). Riskworx and African Merchant Bank. Christine has extensive experience in financial markets, fixed income, regulatory change and compliance and risk management.
Karen Goldstone-Hoffman
Company Secretary
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Stuart Yates
Non-executive Director
BSc (Hons) Computer Science (Edinburgh, Scotland), Fellow (South African Institute of Financial Markets)
Stuart Yates held a long-established career in financial markets, having first joined the industry through specialised bond trading in 1979. He has held multiple roles in the financial sector including as the Banking Association’s member on the Bond Market Association and a member of the design team for SAFEX. After joining Rand Merchant Bank in 1992, he developed a treasury outsourcing business, headed HR during the FNB merger and was the bank’s representative on Strate’s board for six years. He is currently an independent non-executive director serving on a number of boards.
Louise Currie
Non-executive Director (alternate)
BCom (Hons) (Unisa)
As CIB Client Service and Digital: Executive Client Delivery at Nedbank, Louise Currie focuses on enhancing the client experience through transforming the operating juristic model by steering digitisation at employee and client level.
Louise has over 25 years’ experience in the investment and custodial world, locally and internationally. She began her career in the financial industry in project management focusing on productivity studies in the commercial banking environment. She has been involved in the establishment of the bond market for South Africa and getting South Africa and the local banks ready for the dematerialisation of equities. She went on to take leadership roles in client and operations management on the investment side.
Marilyn Ramplin
Financial Derivatives & Regulations, Securities Institute Certificate (UK)
Independent non-executive Director
Marilyn Ramplin has international experience as a trader and investment banker, with expertise in, among others, over-the-counter derivatives, collateral management, risk management, credit counterparty risk, collective investments and hedge funds. She is the founder of the Hedge Fund Academy in South Africa, serves as an independent non-executive member of the JSE Clear Risk Committee and is an independent executive director of several companies including RMB CIS Manco, Ashburton Investments, Investment Solutions and JSE Clear.
Charl Bruyns
CA(SA), University of Pretoria
Non-executive Director
Charl Bruyns is the Head Financial Institutions and Investor Services for Standard Bank, where he has worked for 12 years in the investment management and banking business, serving as head of the quantitative analytics team and headed the fund valuations team. During his career at Standard Bank, he has fulfilled the role of chief financial officer (CFO) of the Corporate and Investment Bank business in Africa, CFO and chief operating officer for the Transactional Products and Services business, and treasurer for the African business.
Fawzia Suliman
Non-executive Director
BCom Accounting (Wits) CA(SA)
Fawzia Suliman, JSE Group Chief Financial Officer, has a wealth of experience spanning over 25 years in the financial services industry in varying senior positions.
She joined the JSE in January 2023, where she leads the finance division and serves as a member of the group executive committee. Fawzia is responsible for group strategy and mergers and acquisitions. She serves on the board of the JSE and as joint executive director of JSE Limited with the JSE Group CEO, Leila Fourie.
Fawzia was previously an executive for special projects at Stanlib and held management roles at Credit Suisse, Macquarie First South and Mazi Macquarie Securities. She was nominated as CEO of the Year 2018 by the Association of Black Securities Investment Professionals (ABSIP).
Daisy Naidoo
MCom (Tax), University of Natal, CA(SA)
Independent Non-Executive director
Daisy Naidoo serves as an independent non-executive director on the boards of, among others, Anglo American Platinum, ABSA Group Limited, ABSA Financial Services Limited, Mr Price Group Limited, Hudaco Industries, Omnia Holdings and Redefine Properties Limited. Prior to this, she spent nine years with Santam Capital Markets. She is a member of the Tax Court of South Africa and a trustee of the Discovery Health Medical Scheme. She also provides risk advisory services and serves on the investment and credit committees of numerous funds.
Elias Masilela
Independent Non-executive Director
BASocSci (Swaziland), MSc Economic Policy and Analysis (Addis Ababa), Professional Certificates (Harvard)
Elias has extensive experience across a number of industries. He served as the commissioner of the 1st & 2nd National Planning Commission and was the chairman of the V&A Waterfront until end January 2020. He is current Chairman of Capital Harvest, Impact Investing South Africa and Sanlam. He serves as a member of the boards of Multichoice Group, Multichoice SA, Alternative Prosperity Holdings, Future Planet Capital in London and Strate. He was also a member of the boards of the South African Reserve Bank, the Government Employee Pension Fund, Airports Company SA, Economic Research Southern Africa and the UN Global Compact Board and chairman of the (UNGC) SA Local Network..
Alicia is the CEO of JSE Clear and the Director of Post Trade Services at JSE Limited (since 2016). She is experienced in strategy, risk and capital management and financial services through various roles at JSE, Standard Bank, Discovery, Accenture and AECI.
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