MEET SIGNAL AUTOMATED INVESTMENTS’ MANAGER - RIAAN SMIT

Riaan grew up and was educated in Cape Town. After completing high school in 2000 he spent 2 years in London. During this time he worked in research at the Financial Times (Investment Funds Division), and through the Securities Institute of England, studied for and obtained certificates of qualification in International Capital Markets, International Investment Advice and Unit Trust Administration.

Riaan returned to South Africa at the end of 2002. During the next 3 years, he graduated from UNISA with a B. Comm. degree (majoring in Financial Management), and obtained his Registered Persons Certificate from the South African Institute for Financial Markets. Thereafter he completed the JSE Trader’s Examination.

From an early age, Riaan has showed a keen interest in financial markets. He bought his first shares on the JSE at the age of 13. In 2003 he started trading his own account on the South African Derivatives Exchange with immediate success, and began writing his own automated trading systems.

In 2006, Riaan joined Signal Futures (a derivatives member of the JSE) as a senior dealer. He soon displayed a high level of professional competence to effectively trade a variety of financial instruments. He also assisted in the development of Signal’s current proprietary automated trading systems.

From October 2007, Riaan has taken over the responsibilities of day-to-day management of Signal Automated Investments.