About Discovery
Discovery’s core purpose is to make people healthier and to enhance and protect their lives. We seek out and invest in exceptional individuals who understand and support our core purpose, and whose own values align with those of Discovery. Our fast-paced and dynamic environment enables smart, self-driven people to be their best. As global thought leaders, Discovery is passionate about innovating in order to not only achieve financial success, but to ignite positive and meaningful change within our society.
About Discovery Bank
We’re the world’s first behavioural bank, designed with our clients in mind. We haven’t changed just one thing, we’ve changed everything. Our main goal is to improve the financial health of our clients by helping change how they work with their money. Through Vitality Money, our clients will learn more about what it means to be financially healthy and get rewarded for managing their money well. If you are a problem solver, always questioning the way things are done, passionate about doing what is right, have the ability to change direction quickly when needed and / or love to dazzle your clients, Discovery Bank, has a job where you can be yourself and your best in an environment that is safe and nurturing.
Job Purpose
The Head of Payment Operations ensures smooth functioning of payments operations across the Group and the Bank based on local and international payment and settlement rules. Oversee the design and delivery of the payments strategy and technological functionality to meet the ever-evolving needs of the bank’s customers, while complying with all relevant legislative and regulatory requirements
Areas of responsibility may include but not limited to
• Take end-to-end accountability for payments across the Bank and the Group
• Develop the payments operations strategy and work with the design team to define the new payments utility, including mapping out processes, assessing risks and controls
• Manage the payment and settlement operation and reconciliation processes effectively to ensure proper and timeous settlements and exception handling management i.e. unreconciled items.
• Track notifications from PASA and SWIFT and manage these resources effectively to avoid penalties and unnecessary charges
• Work closely with the regulator(s) to ensure full compliance with rules thus avoiding any warnings, penalties and interest charges
• Operationally manage the entire payment and settlement value chain which includes settlement in local and foreign currencies. This includes payment processing and confirmations, account reconciliations, investigations, troubleshooting, risk, reporting, and problem/incident resolution of payment transactions and trades in various currencies and a wide variety of payments business products.
• Continuously look for opportunities to improve and streamline processes while ensuring flawless operations
• Liaise with the Association(s) to receive and understand the latest mandates, compliance and system-related features which are to be enhanced or added into Bank’s own systems
• Implement and educate the Payments’ team on enhancements of local payment and clearing systems (NPS and PASA) and SWIFT and ensuring the system enhancements are installed well ahead of the required regulatory deadlines
• Manage and control all maintenance requests
• Analyse key indicators and review risk information to identify key payment business risks
• Develop processes and systems to enhance control and efficiency
• Work closely with the design teams to spearhead the design and testing of new and enhanced payment operations systems
• Manage the budget
• Provide inspirational leadership to the Payment Operations team
Personal Attributes and Skills
• Strategic thinker able to conceptualise and translate strategy into action
• An ability to deal with complex issues and migrate between detail and high-level requirements
• Exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills
• Deep knowledge and experience of the payments industry, schemes and regulations and more specifically the National Payment System (NPS)
• Strong business analysis skills with the ability to deliver insight on how to make process improvements
• Action-oriented with a can-do attitude
• An operational focus willing to be actively involved in the implementation
• A deep understanding of business dynamics and challenges
• Advanced written and verbal communication skills
• Flexible with an ability to deal with ambiguity and continuous change
• Excellent leadership skills
• Independent self-starter who also works well in a team environment
Education and Experience
• A formal financial / business degree at least at an Honours level
• Minimum 10 years experience in a payment operations role is essential
• Must be conversant with PASA, SARB, SWIFT, RTGS and Visa settlement rules & regulations, transactions flow and preferably the message formats
• Thorough understanding of full payment life cycle including local and international payment and settlement processing, interbank payments and the total payment process. Includes knowledge of all systems, mechanisms, institutions, agreements, procedures, rules and laws that come into play from the moment an end-user issues an instruction to pay another person or a business, through to the final interbank settlement of the transaction in the books of the SARB
• Advanced knowledge of the technology and applications that support payments
• Comprehensive knowledge of payment operations, payments strategy & design
• Strong operational processing, risk and service management experience
• Proven track record as a practitioner in an international retail, corporate or investment banking operations environment, with a minimum of 8 years in a leadership position
EMPLOYMENT EQUITY
The Company’s approved Employment Equity Plan and Targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process. As an Equal Opportunities employer, we actively encourage and welcome people with various disabilities to apply.
EMPLOYMENT EQUITY
The Company’s approved Employment Equity Plan and Targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process. As an Equal Opportunities employer, we actively encourage and welcome people with various disabilities to apply
