The core competency and background of our team is financial- and general applied mathematics as well as computer programming skills.

RiskCafé develops all its technology for specific service delivery in-house, into one single on-line delivery platform.

Efficiency is a first consideration for every activity at RiskCafé. Our system and process layout allows our clients to perform multiple tasks from a single control point.

For medium to large operations, RiskCafé offers a traditional software license and support agreement with a scalable on-site deployment.

Clients with specific operational capacity submits prepared input data to our customisable cloud platform, and receives output data according to a pre-defined format.

RiskCafé collects and maintains input data, conducts a reconciliation to the source and performs all administration to deliver final output in the form of data files or reports.

The Dendra Code is the internal framework that our company’s software runs on. All our porting, mathematical equations, and so forth runs through this framework. We have developed the Dendra Code in-house for the last 20 years.

Why?

Because RiskCafé is a one-of-a-kind company, and our work is very niche, we need an in-house developed framework. The Dendra Code allows RiskCafé to provide customized investment solutions to our clients. The Dendra Code uses advanced algorithms and data analytics to identify investment opportunities and risks, providing clients with superior investment returns.

Like RiskCafé, the Dendra Code is constantly evolving, and clients can have confidence that they are working with a company at the forefront of investment management technology.

Recently, two new clients have decided to go to the next level and chose our framework for their financial solution.

The Johannesburg Interbank Average Rate (JIBAR) is a money market rate currently used in South Africa as a reference for numerous financial securities across various markets. Similar reference rates were used globally, for example, the US dollar London Interbank Offered rate. Given the wide use of these rates in the global modern financial markets, it is critically important that the determination of these rates is reliable and can be reported with integrity. Unfortunately, the system used to produce the reference rates was susceptible to manipulation since the computation relied on the contributing bank's indicative rates. Based on these findings, reform processes have commenced globally to replace these benchmarks with more robust near risk-free alternatives. Locally the reform process was established to replace JIBAR with the ZARONIA (South African Rand Overnight Index Average).

JIBAR will be available for a limited time, parallel with the new rate. ZARONIA aims to increase credibility, minimize the risk of manipulation, and improve transparency in South Africa’s financial markets. All contracts linked to JIBAR need to be renegotiated or amended to reference the new benchmark.

Our clients need to be aware of these changes. RiskCafé will be able to assist our clients with the required changes needed to transition to the new reference rate.

RiskCafé has made substantial progress with its technology solutions in the investment industry. The new add-on modules that have emerged are:

1. A comprehensive Trade reporting module covering all asset classes, broker- and administrator integration and a programmable trade allocation framework.

2. More advanced Reporting capabilities - including .xlsx technology to allow output directly into spreadsheet environments.

3. A matured Compliance rules module which includes Pre-trade Compliance and Breach Management capabilities.

The Trade reporting module is an online cloud solution aimed at streamlining operations for managers with multiple portfolios across multiple broker / prime-broker and administrator environments.

These new add-ons will ensure significant productivity improvements to operations.

The amendments to Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act encourage pension funds to invest in infrastructure, and allow for further diversification through increased limits to Hedge funds and Private Equity portfolios. These limits took effect in January 2023.

The amendments increased the limits that funds may invest in. Retirement funds can invest up to 45% across all asset classes.

Reg 28’s investment limits safeguard retirement savings by preventing excessive concentration risk while still allowing fund trustees to determine investment policy and make investment decisions that consider the needs of each pension fund’s members.

RiskCafé's awareness of the new investment limits enables us to provide up-to-date coverage over our client's portfolios and to assist them with updated reporting requirements associated with these changes.

We want our clients to stay ahead of the curve by making them aware of these changes to ensure our clients’ compliance and manage their risk effectively.

As part of our service to clients, RiskCafé has developed specific deployments, or segregated instances of our in-house developed software platform, to fit specific client requirements. These deployments can take form of a web application with customised functionality and appearance or graphic layout. It can also take the form of a REST API interface, which follows a request and response workflow with custom specifications according to client requirements. Hosting can be facilitated on our cloud solutions or the client’s infrastructure on Windows or Linux-based environments.

Offerings often develop organically as an extension of existing services, such as our regulatory compliance reporting services (e.g., BN52, BN90, Reg28), where we have developed a Breach Management module and a Pre-Trade Compliance module. The Breach Management module provides an online tool for clients to monitor compliance reporting breaches daily, notify fund managers and keep records of resolutions. This module has integrated email functionality, which simplifies the breach resolution communication. It also includes reporting such as breach summaries for historical periods and quarterly BN90 Compliance Certificates.

Another offering is a Trade Capture module, which automates trade allocation over various in-house funds according to client configurable rules and automatically generates emails to previous setup brokers, with file attachments generated according to each broker's specification. The module also includes reconciliation capabilities with administrator data and risk reporting, such as VaR modelling.

Pre-trade Compliance enables clients to check the influence of these new trades and cashflows on the compliance reports of their portfolios before executing the trades. The compliance checks can be exported and stored as part of pre-trade compliance checklists.

Penetration Testing at RiskCafé helps us to assess the security posture and infrastructure and its ability to protect data from bad actors. Penetration Tests are a critical part of risk assessment and are used to identify and address vulnerabilities in the system.

We have recently done a Penetration Test on RiskCafé - we are secure! This means that our security measures are effective in identifying and addressing vulnerabilities in the system, which is essential for optimal risk management. RiskCafé takes security seriously, and our clients can be confident that their investments are managed in a secure environment.

Upcoming: We are busy implementing ISO27001. It will be ready for certification soon.

Our Data Management Team installs and services all client portfolio data and static data sources. They handle all external and internal admin data queries. They design and test new and existing data to manage the system data.

The team is also responsible for data cleanup, extraction, and warehousing. The Data Management Team ensures that the data from Prime Brokers feeds well through the company’s system.

Our Compliance and Analytics Team develops, implements and maintains the Compliance Framework and conducts compliance risk assessments. They ensure that RiskCafé's compliance offering remains current with all the applicable laws, regulations, rules, standards, and guidelines.

The analytical function is a core part of the team's responsibility. New regulations often go hand in hand with changes to valuation policies and methods. Having both these skillsets in the Compliance/Analytics Team enables RiskCafé to remain current in a constantly evolving regulatory framework.

Our Internal Testing is responsible for testing the functionality, stability, security, and performance of the system before any updates roll out into the release or production environments. The team employs various testing procedures to ensure the quality and functionality of the whole system. Testing is done on dedicated commercial-grade server hardware running isolated testing environments. They also ensure that the system's individual components meet RiskCafé’s strict high-quality standards.

Our Code Team develops and maintains the in-house Dendra Framework. They do extensive research to design and build tech that is “tailor fit” for the work that needs to be done at RiskCafé and the problems that we need to solve for clients. The vibrant Code Team learns and innovates together and lives out their passion for technology.

Reconciliations - The Fund Admin team performs daily, monthly, and quarterly NAV and PnL reconciliations for Retail and Qualified Hedge Funds. They liaise with prime brokers, administrators, and fund managers to ensure the accuracy of positions, NAV, and performance. They run daily funds and distribute them to stakeholders.

Quality Assurance - The Fund Management Team monitors the day-to-day risk and compliance processes. They also monitor the accuracy of reporting before distributing it to stakeholders. They communicate new BN52 and BN90 breaches to fund MANCOs and fund managers.

Client Relations - The Fund Management Team attends to stakeholder queries, ensures that client deadlines are met and communicate NAV, position, and performance discrepancies.

Our Legal and Copywrite Teams’ goal is to ensure our documents are in place and proofread. The team handles all legal requirements, contracts, queries, and due diligence. Our legal team is very serious about keeping RiskCafé updated with all documents and contracts that need to be in place.

Clients can be assured that we do our Due Diligence and that the company is above board. We do regular penetration tests to ensure that our company is secure. Our Legal team certifies that everything at the company is under control.

RiskCafé recognizes the importance of good copywriting, and the Copywrite Team puts effort into proofreading and editing all our official documents, contracts, and e-mails.

Learn how financial instruments like bonds, swaps, FRA’s, futures and options are utilized in the industry.

RiskCafé offers a Fund Administration Internship for students in B.Com Investment Finance, Investment Administration, Investment Management, or anything similar. Students with a B.Sc in Mathematics, Finance or similar are also eligible.

The internship runs for six months and offers candidates the opportunity to gain first-hand experience in a wide range of instruments as applied by the industry across a range of applications: risk analysis, compliance reporting, portfolio evaluation and performance calculation and more!

We supervise candidates to handle real-life investment portfolios, and candidates have exposure to daily performance and detailed risk evaluation. This is the ideal opportunity to explore and apply your academic knowledge in the marketplace.

Apply now: Send your copy of your certified ID, copy of your certified Matric Certificate, copy of your certified Degree and/or Postgraduate degrees (if applicable), copy of your full Academic Transcript and your CV to katrienvdm@riskcafe.com.

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