SISANDA WOPULA
Johannesburg
Summary
Trade support specialist delivering customer service and technical assistance for trading operations in fast-paced financial environments. Executes profitable trades using market trend analysis, troubleshooting, and risk mitigation. Produces accurate, timely resolutions that maintain desk oversight and client satisfaction.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
Work History
Support Specialist (Money Market Desk)
Standard Bank of South Africa
02.2023 - Current
- Supported the end-to-end Money Markets trade lifecycle, ensuring accurate trade capture, validation, and settlement.
- Onboarded institutional clients, funds, and trading accounts across Murex and Treasury platforms.
- Maintained Murex static and reference data, improving trade processing accuracy and control effectiveness.
- Strengthened trade management and market data controls, reducing operational risk and exceptions.
- Conducted trade surveillance and transaction monitoring, identifying and escalating control breaches and anomalies.
- Resolved complex trade, settlement, valuation, and operational queries across Front-to-Back Office functions.
- Managed credit limits and exposure controls, supporting Treasury risk management frameworks.
- Produced MIS and management reporting on volumes, turnover, amendments, cancellations, and operational KPIs.
- Delivered client profitability and trading performance analysis to support Front Office decision-making.
- Supported new product implementations, system enhancements, and process improvement initiatives across Global Markets.
Local Market Africa Validations – Interest Rates Derivatives
Standard Bank of South Africa
Johannesburg
02.2023 - Current
- Validated Interest Rate Derivative (IRD), FX Spot, and Forward transactions, ensuring trade accuracy and regulatory compliance.
- Performed trade verification across Reuters, broker platforms, and voice-executed transactions.
- Reconciled Vanilla and Structured Derivative trades, identifying and resolving trade breaks and exceptions.
- Monitored and managed trade validation queues, ensuring timely processing and issue resolution.
- Investigated and escalated trade discrepancies and booking exceptions, reducing operational risk.
- Supported the control framework for Interest Rate Derivatives, FX, and Africa Markets products.
- Resolved complex trade lifecycle queries from Front Office, Back Office, and operational teams.
- Partnered with Risk, Settlements, and Operations teams to ensure accurate trade processing and settlement readiness.
- Performed exception management and trade monitoring to improve operational efficiency and data quality.
- Contributed to effective risk mitigation, trade controls, and middle office governance across Global Markets.
Specialist Trade Support Vanilla Plus (Fixed Income Desk)
Standard Bank of South Africa
10.2021 - 01.2023
- Managed the end-to-end Fixed Income trade lifecycle, ensuring accurate trade capture, validation, and settlement.
- Executed and supported DCM, Euroclear, and structured product transactions within Murex.
- Onboarded new Fixed Income clients and funds, ensuring seamless setup across trading platforms.
- Maintained client and fund static data across Murex, Bloomberg, and JSE Nutron.
- Monitored and resolved TOMS-to-Murex and Murex-to-Nutron trade exceptions, reducing operational risk.
- Processed and allocated Asset Manager trades via Bloomberg, ensuring timely execution and settlement.
- Performed daily trade reconciliations, ensuring accurate matching and settlement of Fixed Income transactions.
- Strengthened trade management controls and operational governance frameworks.
- Partnered with Front Office, Operations, Settlements, and Technology teams to resolve trade lifecycle issues.
- Identified and escalated trading trends, control gaps, and operational risks to senior management.
Confirmations Officer
Standard Bank of South Africa
09.2009 - 08.2015
- Processed and validated Interest Rate Derivatives confirmations, including swaps, FRAs, caps, floors, and ZAR instruments, ensuring accuracy and regulatory compliance.
- Investigated and resolved trade confirmation discrepancies, partnering with Front Office, Operations, and counterparties to mitigate settlement and operational risk.
- Managed the timely matching and affirmation of OTC derivative transactions, supporting efficient post-trade processing.
- Maintained confirmation workflows and documentation controls, ensuring adherence to Global Markets operational and compliance standards.
- Supported the reduction of operational risk through proactive exception management, escalation, and resolution of unmatched or disputed confirmations.
Bonds Officer
Standard Bank of South Africa
11.2007 - 05.2009
- Managed the settlement of bond, commercial paper, and Fixed Income transactions through CSDP, ensuring timely and accurate settlement.
- Processed and booked bond, commercial paper, and Eurobond trades across multiple trading and settlement platforms.
- Performed daily settlement reconciliations and readiness checks, reducing settlement risk and trade exceptions.
- Verified trade details and processed General Ledger entries, ensuring financial accuracy and control compliance.
- Captured and maintained Fixed Income and Eurobond transactions, supporting effective trade lifecycle management.
- Monitored and resolved trade and settlement exceptions, improving operational efficiency and control effectiveness.
- Supported trade capture and deal booking activities for South African and international Fixed Income products.
- Partnered with Front Office, Settlements, Custody, and Finance teams to ensure seamless post-trade processing.
- Maintained compliance with market regulations, operational controls, and settlement procedures.
- Contributed to the efficient processing of government bonds, corporate bonds, commercial paper, and Eurobond products within Global Markets.
People Management Clerk - Temp
Xstrata Graduate Programme (Africagrowth)
04.2007 - 10.2007
- Managed reception area and operated switchboard to ensure smooth communication and visitor experience.
- Performed general administration tasks, including faxing, emailing, and filing, to support office operations.
- Identified and engaged small and medium enterprises to contribute to SME project outreach and collaboration.
Education
Certificate - Project Management
University of Stellenbosch
National Diploma - Internal Auditing
Vaal University of Technology
N5 Certificate - Business Management
Krugersdorp College
National Senior Certificate (Grade 12) -
Toli High School
Skills
- Proficiency in using trade-related software and technology
- Excellent verbal and written communication
- Leadership and Management
- Teamwork and Collaboration
- Handle classified information (Maintain confidentiality)
- Attention to detail and Accuracy
- Ability to work under pressure
- Time Management and Prioritization
- Decision making and Problem-solving
- Customer Service Orientation
- Product Knowledge
- Client Relationships Management
- Conflict Resolution
- Risk Management
- Report writing and Proof reading
- Proficiency in market research and analysis
- Order Processing and Management
- Data Entry and Database Navigation
- Billing and Payment Processing
- Microsoft Office Suite [Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook]
- Bonds: [Nutron system for matching trades, Symbols, Infinity, Euclid system, Bloomberg (allocation/splits of trades)]
- Confirmations: [Docktrack, Infinity]
Achievements and Awards
Nominated as one of the best employees within Global Markets Operations in 2017.
References
- Ms Tatum, Pretorius, Collateral team, 011 415 4165, 083 271 4632, Standard Bank
- Tshite, Kgosi, Senior Trader, 011 415 7820, 076 985 9988, Standard Bank
- Amber, Vengataa, Settlements, 076 903 1540, Standard Bank
- Mr John, De Beer, Head, NBFI, Flow Sales, 011 415 7844, 072 047 2793, Standard Bank
Timeline
Local Market Africa Validations – Interest Rates Derivatives
Standard Bank of South Africa
02.2023 - Current
Support Specialist (Money Market Desk)
Standard Bank of South Africa
02.2023 - Current
Specialist Trade Support Vanilla Plus (Fixed Income Desk)
Standard Bank of South Africa
10.2021 - 01.2023
Confirmations Officer
Standard Bank of South Africa
09.2009 - 08.2015
Bonds Officer
Standard Bank of South Africa
11.2007 - 05.2009
People Management Clerk - Temp
Xstrata Graduate Programme (Africagrowth)
04.2007 - 10.2007
Certificate - Project Management
University of Stellenbosch
National Diploma - Internal Auditing
Vaal University of Technology
N5 Certificate - Business Management
Krugersdorp College
National Senior Certificate (Grade 12) -
Toli High School