Riyaz Smith

Highly accomplished CAIB-certified banking professional and senior management executive with a proven track record of driving financial services strategies, mitigating risk, and optimizing end-to-end operations. Adept at spearheading strategic change management initiatives and delivering value-added technology solutions that streamline complex processes, control operational risks, and realize substantial revenue growth. Offers extensive expertise in credit lending, portfolio risk management, and scale leadership within major financial institutions.

Mortgage Originator at Self-Employed / Strategic Practice (2026-01 – Present)

• Client Needs Analysis: Conduct comprehensive financial consultations to understand long-term property goals, matching clients with tailored mortgage products.
• Risk & Affordability Assessment: Evaluate credit profiles, credit scores, and debt-to-income ratios to gauge borrowing capacity and mitigate risk for lending partners.
• Financial Document Validation: Perform rigorous reviews of bank statements, payslips, and financial statements to verify income stability and analyze cash flow.
• Deal Structuring: Package and present complex loan applications strategically to maximize approval odds with major banks and lenders.
• Rate Negotiation: Leverage industry relationships to negotiate directly with financial institutions, securing competitive interest rates and favorable terms.

National Manager: Sales & Service Enablement at Major Financial Services Institution (2018 – 2025-12)

• Operational Leadership: Directed and coordinated daily operations within sales and service enablement to drive service delivery and continuous process improvement.
• Team & Matrix Management: Managed direct and matrix teams, taking accountability for physical/digital records management, streamlining payments between banks and attorneys, and overseeing account closures.
• Change Council Governance: Led change and programme management activities, driving 90-day plans for strategic technology and people-related change initiatives.
• Risk & Regulatory Compliance: Established risk-based protocols aligned with new KYC and money laundering regulations, executing conformance testing and self-assessments.
• Digital Migration: Led the migration of 583K customers from postal to electronic (email) communications, designing online self-service features and implementing robotics/AI to eliminate manual processes.
• System Modernization: Boosted back-office efficiencies by 98% by executing a new architecture to replace legacy banking systems.
• Systems Resilience: Improved disaster recovery and system resilience recovery times from 24+ hours down to less than 8 hours.
• Quality Assurance: Ensured flawless country-wide software rollouts by initiating rigorous systems issue testing (SIT) and user acceptance testing (UAT).

Vice President: Operations & Service Delivery at Major Financial Services Institution (2015-01 – 2018)

• Strategic Execution: Planned and executed the operational and service delivery strategy to ensure seamless business transition, high client and employee satisfaction, and revenue growth.
• Governance & Frameworks: Directed multiple project operations to establish robust regulatory and compliance protocols in line with National Credit Act (NCA), RDR, FICA, and KAMLS.
• Operational Efficiency: Eradicated record retrieval costs by successfully converting physical customer paper documents into a secure digital archive.
• Customer Experience: Enhanced ATM and online banking functionality to provide customers with 24/7 self-service access to stamped archive statements, minimizing call center and branch queries.
• Talent Development: Fostered a high-performance culture by coaching and mentoring business consultants, process custodians, and managing people-change initiatives.

National Manager: Small Business & Home Loans Credit Lending at Barclays Africa (2010-01 – 2014-12)

• Credit Portfolio Control: Spearheaded credit portfolio controls in collaboration with credit managers, executing financial sensitivity analysis and ensuring strict adherence to underwriting parameters.
• Credit Decision Mandate: Controlled and signed off on high-value credit decisions within a personal mandate of ZAR 75M, deferring larger exposures to the group credit committee.
• Risk Strategy Promotion: Promoted and improved credit risk policies and processes, managing non-performing loan recoveries and legal hand-over procedures.
• Large-Scale Team Leadership: Led and managed the bank's largest staff compliment of 250 FTE.
• Cost Optimization: Realized ZAR 9.6M in operational savings by driving structural efficiencies and resource optimization (40 FTE) over 24 months.
• Turnaround Time Reduction: Reduced credit application turnaround times from 8 hours to less than a 3-hour SLA by establishing specialized credit work streams.
• Underwriting Enhancement: Partnered with Regional Segment Managers to develop and fortify underwriting and collection strategies.

Regional Segment Manager / Credit Manager at Absa (Financial Services) (1999-05 – 2009-12)

• Regional Segment Manager (2007 – 2009): Directed credit underwriting and collection activities for a regional portfolio valued at over ZAR 700M.
• Credit Manager, Medium & Small Businesses (2005 – 2007): Evaluated and authorized credit applications up to ZAR 5M standalone and ZAR 50M total group exposures, analyzing financial statements for liquidity, leverage, and profitability.
• Credit Collections Specialist (1999 – 2005): Negotiated security instruments, guarantees, and collateral back-ups for diverse credit lines, including ordinary business loans, credit cards, and asset finance.

Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) in Cyber Security Professional – University of the Witwatersrand (2019)

Master of Business Administration (MBA) – University of the Witwatersrand (2016)

Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) in Business Administration & Management – Wits Business School (2014)

Certified Associate of the Institute of Bankers (CAIB, SA) – Institute of Bankers (2007)

Advanced Management Programme – Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) (2005)