Management Manager
Resume:
Kurt Kaufman
**********@*****.***
OBJECTIVE:
Accomplished professional with proven track record within financial services industry specializing in
Asset Based and Credit Products. Successful in all of my roles due to my ability to comprehend new
information quickly and my ability to process numbers and react in an effective manner. Recognized
for the ability to streamline processes, improve efficiencies, and lead by example.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
Basso Capital Management, Stamford, CT May 2007 –December 2008
Senior Operations Associate
• Senior member on a team of 8 where my main focus was to streamline the credit business, change
processes to be more efficient, and be the point of escalation for any operational issue
• Responsibilities on my team included trade booking, reconciliation of cash and notionals between
us and counterparties, reconciliation of margin charged, DTCC and hard copy confirmations,
settlements, calculating and settling quarterly rolls, calculating and settling defaulted names,
reporting month end breaks and PNL numbers, and any other credit-related projects to keep up-to-
date with the current market environment
• Built and maintained relationships with the street in all areas including Sales, Trading, Trade
Support, Valuations, Legal, Operational Management, and 3rd Party Vendors
• Responsible for the following products: CDX, Itraxx, Tranches, Swaptions, ABX, LCDX, Bonds,
Single Names, Bespokes, CMBX, and Emerging Markets
• Automated the front-2-back cds flow by setting up a direct feed into DTCC and bringing in T-
Zero to handle the T+0 matching between us and counterparties on trade date
• Performed the calculations for any defaulted names to be settled
• Changed the process for settling the quarterly roll and it resulted in zero cash breaks after
implementation within 3 days of the roll date
• Monitored all reconciliations and discussed any break over 5 days with the COO providing my
recommended course of action
• Marked the credit book weekly and monthly for PNL purposes and analyzed any PNL
discrepancies
• Improved the pricing process by linking up our options book to the CDSO page in Bloomberg in
order to retrieve their model for pricing options and automate the process
• Brought MarkIt in-house to take advantage of their curves and eventually transition to their
pricing platform to make our pricing process a lot more efficient and accurate
• Acted as the point of escalation for any trade processing, settlement, confirmation, reconciliation,
margin, documentation, or any other credit-related operational issues
Silver Point Capital, Greenwich, CT August 2005-May 2007
Operations Analyst
• Responsible for all trade booking, compliance reporting, locates on our short activity,
CDS and SPX management, investigating and resolving all trade breaks at our Prime Brokers, FX
hedging, corporate actions, PNL analyzing and reporting, managing strategies for analysts, and
any other ad hoc projects from the traders and analysts
• Responsible for the following products: Bonds, Equities, Equity Swaps, Equity Options,
SPX Volatility Swaps, Bank Debt, Trade Claims, FX, CDX, Itraxx, ABX, LCDX, and Single
Names CDS
• Managed all CDS post trade activity, including negotiating margin, confirming term
sheets and reference obligations, booking and settling trades, pricing for daily and month end
valuation, and calculating, confirming and settling the quarterly rolls
• Created and implemented a prime brokerage comparison report so we could actively
manage our balances and achieve optimum margin relief and greatest cost savings. Items tracked
includes various balances, leverage, rates, and daily costs
• Brought in a 3rd Party Vendor to automate our locate business which created clearer
transparency, which resulted in always locking up the best rate on the street and it allowed us to
pro-actively monitor any rate changes so we can move balances across Prime Brokers to achieve
maximum margin relief and minimal costs
• Automated the CDS front-to-back process by bringing in T-Zero, a 3rd party vendor to
handle the daily trading activity, created a CDS reconciliation which reconciles our book vs the
street daily and automated the CDS pricing process by linking our book up to MarkIt to ensure
curve pricing is consistent
• Responsible for hedging our FX exposure. Automated the FX trading platform by
onboarding FXALL, a vendor for FX trading. Will allow for clearer transparency and better
execution
• Generated and managed all of our reconciliations to our Prime Brokers daily and worked
with our PB representatives to correct any outstanding trade breaks
• Responsible for ISDA Documentation drafting, amendments and ISDA corrections
• Generated the firm’s PNL daily. This includes marking the bond, equity, and CDS book
and analyzing any big gains or losses
UBS Investment Bank, Stamford, CT May 2003-August 2005
FX Client Relationship Manager
• Responsible for 80+ clients in all post-trade processing, including confirmation, trade
settlement, trade breaks, interest claims, and investigations
• Client visits to build and leverage strong client relationships, where I would carry out
presentations, report/update clients on any relevant business, and provide training on client facing
systems.
• Client service coordination with Front Office, Credit, and Collateral Management to
ensure accurate reporting and timely problem-solving
• Oversee the development of all my colleagues and help facilitate their growth, reporting
back to upper management
AIG Trading Group, Greenwich, CT Oct 2001-Feb 2003
Operations Analyst
• Worked closely with traders on monitoring their books, customer support, spot trading,
and P/L analysis
• Handled all prime brokerage business for precious metals including booking trades, calculating
monthly brokerage charges, rolling positions, reporting positions, confirmations and any other
miscellaneous activities required by the customer
• Performed various reconciliations for different trading books, customers, and exchanges
• Experience with precious metals bullion and options, soft commodities, fx, and futures
International Masters Publishers, Inc., New York, NY Sep 2000-Oct 2001
Financial Analyst / Business Analyst
• Measured performance of our products and developed strategies with our executive team
surrounding this performance to maximize performance
• Analyzed and researched industry/product trends
• Developed and implemented annual budget and monthly forecasts in order to track productivity
• Worked in various project teams acting as the financial representative providing all the numerical
research and projected forecasts in the final reports
EDUCATION:
QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY, Hamden, CT
Bachelor of Science, Economics, May 1999
• GPA 3.6, In Major GPA 3.85
• Recipient of the Vincent Della Rocca Academic Scholarship for Economics in all 4 years of study
• Member of the Economics and Finance club in all 4 years of study
COMPUTER SKILLS:
• Proficient in MS Word, Excel, Access, Powerpoint, Reuters, Bloomberg, MarkIt, DTCC, T-Zero,
HedgeSpeed, FXAll
(References available upon request)
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