Inspiring Grads: Commerce 1

Rosmary Mudzanani

Job history

2021 July–Present Murex Specialist: Equity Derivatives Analyst, Rand Merchant Bank

2018–2021 Consultant, FIS Global

Academic history

2017 MCom in Risk Management of Financial Markets University of Cape Town

2016 BCom Honours in Financial Analysis and Portfolio Management University of Cape Town

2013-2015 BCom Economics and Finance University of Cape Town

Describe your job – what do you do?

I spent about 3,5 years at FIS Global as a Consultant – mostly on Cross-Asset Trading and Risk Platform (formerly Front Arena). This is a combined order and portfolio management system that encompasses the full trade life cycle for the buy side and delivers real-time cross-asset trading, risk management, position keeping, general ledger and more.

Most of my time here was spent at the three banks where we implemented the FRTB Regulations. I was the analyst responsible, and the team and I implemented the solution and did a lot of validation – the FRTB has a lot of mathematics, so I quite enjoyed that.

In July 2021 I left my Consulting role and joined RMB as an EQD (Equity Derivatives) Analyst in the Murex Team. Murex is a trading and risk management platform that enables capital market firms to deploy a robust risk management system. My current role pretty much entails me understanding the full lifecycle of a trade from Pricing to Settlement and the impact on Market Risk and Finance. It also includes supporting the EQD Desk; working with traders and various stakeholders to deliver their requirements. My favourite part about this role is the fact that things are always changing – there is always a new variable introduced, e.g. new products that you have never heard of. My other favourite part about my role is my team – we all come from diverse backgrounds and they have welcomed me on board as I embark on this new role.

How have your degrees helped you to get where you are?

The degrees played a very important role. The master’s degree definitely opened up doors for me and it played an important role on where I am today. A lot of employers in banking are looking for a well-rounded graduate, i.e. someone with both financial markets backgrounds and technical skills – these I learnt mostly in my MCom class.

What has been a highlight of your career so far?

The highlight of my career would have to be getting exposure to various banks in one role. My first role as a consultant gave me the opportunity to work at Absa Capital, Nedbank and Investec. This on its own gave me the opportunity to learn about the various banks’ cultures, networking and essentially helped me carve out my current role.

Advice would you give to students that want to follow in your footsteps?

I don’t think there is really a formula to how I got here. To put things into perspective, I initially wanted to study politics because I was angry at the poor service delivery that we were receiving. I ended up studying finance and economics because I believed understanding these parts of the country would play a pivotal role in me getting involved in politics. But I also really enjoyed Maths and I am good at it, and that’s pretty much how I ended up studying the MCom. I also realised that there aren’t enough females – particularly black females – in these quant technical roles and I wanted to break that cycle and inspire other females to follow the lead. In short, position yourself.

What is the next thing you want to achieve or learn?

I think I want to study a bit further – I want to write the FRM exam.

BOOK recommendation

The Alchemist. This book changed my perspective on life. I read this book last year when I had hit a low in my life and I was feeling a bit depressed because I had lost so many people in my life and this quote carried me through: “And, when you can’t go back, you have to worry only about the best way of moving forward”