About
Johan obtained an MEng (Cum Laude) in Electronic Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2004. He also finished the Registered Persons Examination (Equities) in 2005 through the SAIFM. Johan has twelve years experience in software development, design and project management. Most of this experience has been in the financial services sector. This experience spans diverse areas such as: treasury operations; front, middle and back office; online banking; retail banking; commercial insurance; trade finance and retail foreign exchange.
Johan started his career at Barone, Budge and Dominic. Here, he was introduced to the world of financial software. Initially, he was responsible for supporting and enhancing the bespoke treasury middle-office software used by Brait Merchant Bank. After this he played a significant role in the maintenance and enhancement of Nedbank’s treasury forex trading systems. Success in this lead to him becoming the technical lead and architect of the web-based commercial lines insurance application, designed for Acturis. This application was an industry first in the UK, and is still a strategic component of Acturis’ market success. After this, Johan contracted to Standard Bank and worked extensively on their Branch Delivery System; introducing critical fixes and enhancements to this aging system. This later led to his inclusion as a major contributor to the design and maintenance of Standard Bank’s online banking platform.
In 2007 Johan joined Synthesis. In his capacity as a software engineer, he helped design and implement the Investec OTP (One Time Pin) via SMS infrastructure; as well as the Investec Debt Securitisation system. Furthermore, he has involved himself in various projects within Synthesis; ranging from trade finance applications to Monte-Carlo simulation engines. Johan has a passion for software and financial markets from both a practical and a theoretical perspective. He thrives on designing systems that assist clients to conduct their business in a more efficient way without prescribing how their business should run. Technology should facilitate business processes – not dictate them.