Associate Macro-Prudential Specialist at South African Reserve Bank

• The main purpose of this position is to assist in the development and implementation of frameworks for the monitoring of systemic risks and stress testing in order to promote the robustness and stability of the financial system. This includes advising policymakers on emerging financial risks and vulnerabilities as well as on the soundness of the financial institutions under stress scenarios.

Detailed Description

The successful candidate will be responsible for, among other things, the following key performance areas:

• Assist with the development and implementation of monitoring frameworks for systemic risk in domestic financial institutions.
• Analyse and reconcile new data with historical trends and other relevant data and sources.
• Conduct research to inform the assumptions and relationships that underpin economic and other models.
• Assist with the building of simple models, the running of short-term simulation exercises, and the analysing and explaining of model results.
• Compile thorough, comprehensive and descriptive reports.
• Demonstrate an understanding and application of all methodological standards, techniques and protocols that apply to own work.
• Prepare briefings and presentations on research findings and economic analysis, and present these to the internal team.
• Support the skills development of junior specialists by providing guidance on the subject matter in own scope of work.
• Assist with the development and implementation of the top-down and bottom-up stress testing frameworks (methodologies, processes, models etc.).
• Support the conducting and reporting of stress testing exercises in the financial system to provide advice to policymakers.
• Support the senior macroprudential specialists in co-ordinating and analysing the results of the stress testing exercises with relevant stakeholders.

Job Requirements

To be considered for this position, candidates must be in possession of:

• a Bachelor’s degree (NQF 7) in Economics, Finance or Statistics, or an equivalent qualification;
• at least 2–5 years of relevant job-related experience; and
• a strong background in Economics or Econometrics.

Additional requirements include:

• knowledge of economic and financial theories;
• knowledge of macroprudential policies;
• an understanding of stress testing of the banking/insurance sectors or a similar environment;
• knowledge of regulatory frameworks and international standards;
• experience with macroeconomic and/or microeconomic modelling;
• experience with data analytics and associated software packages;
• the ability to manage time and work on multiple projects simultaneously;
• facilitation and presentation skills;
• strong interpersonal skills;
• strong verbal and written communication skills; and
• proficiency in Microsoft (MS) Office products such as MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint.