Clearing & Settlement Officer - Reconciliations

Overall Purpose of the Role

The Clearing & Settlement Officer – Reconciliations is responsible for ensuring the accurate and timely reconciliation of all clearing, settlement, payment, suspense, and control accounts within agreed service levels and regulatory requirements.

The role is accountable for identifying, investigating, and resolving reconciliation breaks, settlement discrepancies, and operational exceptions while maintaining strong operational controls and minimizing financial and operational risk. The incumbent will work closely with internal stakeholders, payment scheme partners, service providers, and finance teams to ensure completeness, accuracy, and integrity of financial records and settlement activities.

The role requires a highly analytical individual with strong attention to detail, a risk-conscious mindset, and a passion for continuous process improvement and automation.

Requirements

Key Responsibilities

Reconciliation Management

•Perform daily, weekly, and monthly reconciliations across clearing, settlement, suspense, and control accounts.

•Ensure all reconciliations are completed within agreed timelines and service level agreements (SLAs).

•Investigate and resolve reconciliation breaks, exceptions, and unreconciled items.

•Maintain accurate records of reconciliation outcomes, investigations, and resolutions.

•Escalate aged items and unresolved breaks in accordance with governance requirements.

•Monitor and manage reconciliation ageing to ensure timely resolution of outstanding items.

Settlement and Exception Management

•Validate settlement positions and investigate settlement discrepancies.

•Support daily clearing and settlement activities through accurate balancing and verification processes.

•Investigate and resolve payment processing exceptions and operational incidents.

•Liaise with payment partners, service providers, and internal teams to resolve discrepancies and settlement issues.

•Ensure operational exceptions are tracked, managed, and resolved within agreed turnaround times.

Risk, Controls and Governance:

•Maintain strong financial and operational controls across reconciliation processes.

•Identify and escalate operational risks, control weaknesses, and process failures.

•Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, internal policies, and industry standards.

•Support internal and external audits by providing reconciliation evidence and supporting documentation.

•Participate in root-cause analysis and remediation activities for reconciliation-related incidents.

Reporting and Analysis

•Produce reconciliation reports, ageing reports, and exception management dashboards.

•Analyse trends and recurring reconciliation breaks to identify improvement opportunities.

•Provide accurate management information and reporting to stakeholders.

•Monitor key operational metrics and assist in performance reporting.

Process Improvement and Automation

•Identify opportunities to improve reconciliation efficiency and effectiveness.

•Support automation initiatives aimed at reducing manual effort and operational risk.

•Contribute to process redesign and implementation of reconciliation controls.

•Assist with testing and implementation of new products, systems, and operational processes.

Risk and Control Responsibilities

•Adhere to all bank policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements.

•Ensure reconciliation controls are executed consistently and accurately.

•Escalate financial discrepancies, operational incidents, and control failures promptly.

•Maintain complete audit trails and supporting documentation.

•Support a culture of operational excellence, accountability, and compliance.

•Ensure customer, financial, and industry obligations are consistently met.

Experience Required

•Banking, payments, or financial services operations.

•Reconciliation and balancing functions.

•Clearing and settlement operations.

•Finance operations or accounting support environments.

•Investigations and exception management.

•Payment schemes and electronic payment processing.

•Operational risk, audit, compliance, or control-focused functions.

•Process improvement and automation initiatives.

•(The above experience is advantageous but not mandatory.)

Skills Required

•Intermediate to advanced Microsoft Excel skills.

•Strong numerical and analytical aptitude.

•Demonstrated ability to investigate and resolve complex operational issues.

•Ability to learn and adapt to new systems and processes quickly.

•Strong reconciliation and balancing capability.

•Ability to identify trends, anomalies, and root causes.

Competencies Required

•Strong analytical and investigative skills.

•Exceptional attention to detail and accuracy.

•Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.

•Excellent organisational and prioritisation skills.

•Ability to work effectively under pressure and meet deadlines.

•Strong verbal and written communication skills.

•High level of accountability and ownership.

•Risk-aware mindset with strong control discipline.

•Continuous improvement and automation mindset.

•Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a team environment.

•AI proficiency

Qualification/s Required

•Grade 12

•Diploma or relevant tertiary qualification in Finance, Accounting, Banking, Commerce, or related field (Advantageous).