Settlement Officer / Senior Associate - Local Settlements

We are looking for a motivated and detail-oriented Senior Associate to join our Settlement Operations team, focusing on APAC market specific to Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong markets. This role is critical in ensuring timely trade settlement, managing fails and reconciliation breaks, processing fees and margins, and ensuring strong risk and control frameworks.

The ideal candidate brings proven post-trade operations experience, strong market infrastructure knowledge, and a proactive problem-solving approach. The role has a weightage attached to it, as the person will have to possess good knowledge of the Trade life cycle & the Clearing and Settlement activity.

Key Responsibilities

Settlement & Trade Operations:

o Manage daily settlement of equity and fixed income trades across CDPs (Central Depositories), ensuring timely and accurate completion with error free processing from trade capture to settlement.

o Conduct trade matching, pre-matching, and affirmation with counterparties, custodians, and clearing agents.

o Monitor end-to-end trade lifecycle and resolve any trade exceptions prior to market cut-off.

o Monitoring of client execution and provide timely reporting to client on status and short positions.

o Liaising with the counterparties for pre-matching over the phone/email to enhance smooth settlement.

o Liaising with various internal and external stakeholders for any static requirement/setup/account manager follow-ups to ensure the trade settlement has no impact.

Fails Management:

o Proactively monitor and manage settlement fails and unconfirmed trades across supported markets.

o Analyze root causes of fails (e.g., SSI issues, funding delays, mismatched trade details) and coordinate timely resolution.

o Escalate high-value or aging fails and work with brokers, custodians, and front office to minimize fail rates and penalties.

o Track and report daily fail metrics and take part in post-mortem reviews to improve performance.

Reconciliation & Break Investigation:

o Perform daily investigation of cash and securities reconciliations between internal systems and custodian/CCP statements provided by the reconciliation team.

o Coordinate with internal teams (finance, middle office, IT) and external parties (brokers, custodians) for prompt resolution.

o Maintain robust audit trails and exception documentation for unresolved breaks and pending investigations.

Clearing Process:

o Interface with clearing houses (ASX Clear, CDP, HKCC , Clearstream, Euroclear , T2S) to manage novation, netting, and daily clearing obligations.

o Ensure proper segregation and reconciliation of cleared vs. bilateral trades, and accurate internal representation.

o Liaise with clearing brokers and CCPs to resolve trade rejections, margin differences, and clearing breaks.

Cash Margin, Charges & Fee Processing:

o Calculate and monitor daily cash margin requirements and ensure funding of margin calls within deadlines.

o Process and reconcile clearing fees, brokerage commissions, stamp duties, and regulatory charges.

o Validation of margin call and processing/posting for shortages on same day.

o Ensure proper control are in place on validation of MT103/ MT202 payments related to margin posting and ensure SSIs are correct.

o Preparation of Journal posting for Fees/Maintenance with Settlement Bank/ Interest Charges.

Risk Management & Controls:

o Actively manage settlement and operational risk, with a focus on preventing trade fails, margin breaches, and unmitigated breaks.

o Ensure timely escalation of high-risk or unresolved exceptions in line with operational risk policies.

o Participate in regular risk reviews, RCSA, and audit preparations, ensuring full compliance with internal controls.

o Contribute to business continuity planning (BCP) and disaster recovery testing as required.

Continuous Improvement & Reporting:

Maintain and enhance SOPs and process documentation for settlement and reconciliation processes.

Prepare and distribute daily, weekly, and monthly MIS reports for fails, fees, breaks, and margin status.

Participate in system testing (UAT), automation initiatives, and process reengineering to improve control and efficiency.

Identify opportunities to reduce manual processing through Excel automation & VBA scripting

Excellent attention to detail, risk awareness, and ownership of issues until resolution.

Strong analytical and reconciliation skills to investigate and resolve complex issues.

Clear and professional communication for working with internal and external stakeholders.

Adaptability and reliability in a high-volume, deadline-driven environment.

Excellent attention to detail, risk awareness, and ownership of issues until resolution.

Postgraduates (Preferably Finance background).

Candidates should be willing and flexible to work in any shifts.

36 years of experience in settlement operations or post-trade support in capital markets or investment banking.

Hands-on experience with fails management, reconciliations, clearing, and fee processing.

Working knowledge of market infrastructures and CCPs (ASX, HKEX, SGX, T2S, Euroclear , Clearstream) and platforms like SWIFT, Euroclear and internal booking systems.

Strong familiarity with regulations and practices across Europe , Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Skills Referential

Behavioral Skills:

Ability to collaborate / Teamwork

Communication skills - oral & written

Client focused

Creativity & Innovation / Problem solving

Transversal Skills:

Analytical Ability

Ability to understand, explain and support change

Education Level:

Master Degree or equivalent

Experience Level

At least 3 years

Other/Specific Qualifications (if required)

Thorough understanding of Capital market, Financial Instruments, Investment baking processes would be added advantage.