Valuations Specialist

FirstRand Limited; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 700,000 - 1,100,000; Full time

Job summary

Ashburton Investments is a new generation investment manager providing access to diverse return sources and risk management tools. The Valuations Specialist will ensure accurate and timely valuation, reporting and operational integrity of investment products, managing fund pricing, performance monitoring and system reconciliations across the lifecycle from setup to client servicing.

Key duties include overseeing complex reconciliations, pricing checks, corporate actions, and regulatory

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree in Finance or business-related discipline.
• 4–5 years' experience in a similar environment.
• Ability to manage complex investment operations with minimal supervision.

Responsibilities

• Ensure end-to-end trade lifecycle management and resolve exceptions to reduce settlement risk.
• Perform multi-custodian reconciliations and escalate high-risk discrepancies.
• Oversee investment data integrity across platforms including pricing alignment.
• Lead processing of corporate actions and ensure accurate entitlements.
• Assist in regulatory reporting and maintain governance standards.
• Validate fund NAV calculations and related accruals.
• Communicate with custodians, brokers, and asset managers for issue resolution.
• Prepare documentation for external audits and ensure traceability.
• Identify operational inefficiencies and drive automation initiatives.
• Support UAT and system configuration improvements.

Skills

End-to-end trade lifecycle management

Reconciliations (cash, position, NAV)

Regulatory compliance awareness

Stakeholder collaboration

Data accuracy and governance

Operational improvement mindset

Education

Undergraduate degree in Finance or business-related discipline

Tools

Bloomberg AIM

Apex systems

Navigator pricing checks

Job description

Job Description

Hello future Valuations Specialist

Ashburton Investments is a new generation investment manager that offers investors access to more sources of return and more ways to manage risk. In the institutional space in South Africa as well as our Global business, we pride ourselves on offering solutions to address clients' holistic balance sheet needs, and to support business strategies in the reallocation of investment capital in the face of increasing regulatory pressures. We see institutions as but not limited to, pension funds, long and short-term insurers, re-insurers, as well as medical aid schemes.

In this role you will be required to ensure the accurate and timely valuation, reporting, and operational integrity of investment products by managing fund pricing, performance monitoring, and system reconciliations. The role supports the full lifecycle of fund operations-from setup and implementation to ongoing maintenance and client servicing-while maintaining strong relationships with internal teams, custodians, trustees, and external clients. This function is critical in safeguarding data accuracy, regulatory compliance, and client confidence across all investment products.

To play a key role in overseeing complex investment operations functions, ensuring process efficiency, compliance, and risk mitigation.

Managing intricate reconciliations, resolve operational issues with minimal supervision, and optimise investment transaction workflows.

Engage with internal and external stakeholders to drive operational improvements, enhancing the reliability of investment processing.

Are you someone who can:

• Ensure end-to-end trade lifecycle management, proactively identifying and resolving exceptions to reduce failed trades and settlement risk.
• Perform and review complex multi-custodian cash, position, and NAV reconciliations, escalating high-risk discrepancies to senior management.
• Oversee the integrity of investment data across multiple platforms, ensuring accurate pricing, benchmark alignment, and security master maintenance.
• Lead the processing and analysis of corporate actions, ensuring timely election submissions and accurate entitlements allocation.
• Enforce compliance with regulatory frameworks (FAIS, CISCA) by monitoring operational adherence and assisting in regulatory reporting.
• Validate fund NAV calculations, accruals, and fee applications, ensuring alignment with portfolio management requirements.
• Act as a primary point of contact for custodians, brokers, and asset managers, ensuring seamless communication and operational problem resolution.
• Prepare and review documentation for external audits, ensuring reconciliations and transaction records meet governance standards.
• Identify inefficiencies in operational workflows and implement automation solutions to streamline processes and reduce manual intervention.
• Assist in investment system enhancements by participating in user acceptance testing (UAT) and system configuration to support operational efficiency.
• Analyse operational risk incidents, identify root causes, and implement preventative controls to mitigate future occurrences.
• Develop and maintain investment operations performance metrics, providing insights for process improvement and decision-making.
• Drive innovation in investment operations processes by proactively identifying and implementing best practices and technology solutions.
• Work closely with investment teams, risk teams, and IT to optimise operational efficiency and ensure seamless transaction execution.
• Take ownership of complex operational tasks, mentoring junior team members and fostering a high-performance, solutions-driven team environment.
• Reconcile Bloomberg AIM with NXM or Apex systems to ensure accurate opening and closing fund positions prior to conducting pricing checks.
• Use Navigator to verify Apex pricing and perform timely pricing checks to validate reported prices and valuations, preventing errors from being published to the market. This will include working AM and PM shifts.
• Track and report performance metrics such as tracking errors for ETFs and index funds, daily benchmarking, and performance attribution. Monitor corporate actions and accruals impacting fund NAVs.
• Ensure correct pricing sources are used for instruments and monitor Apex's adherence to pricing expectations.
• Respond to and manage performance-related queries in partnership with the performance team to ensure accurate monthly performance reporting.
• Oversee the management of Total Expense Ratios (TERs) and periodic income distributions for funds.
• Lead processes related to new fund implementations, fund amalgamations, and special distributions

You will be an ideal candidate if you:

• Have completed a undergraduate degree in Finance or business-related discipline
• Have 4 - 5 years' experience in a similar environment

We can be a match if you are:

Are curious & courageous - you are driven by always wanting to know more and learn more and you are