Securities Operations and the Trade Lifecycle: Clearing, Settlement, Custody and Corporate Actions – Dubai, 1–5 Feb 2027

Programme overview

Introduction:

Securities operations teams absorb the cost when a trade is booked with wrong static data, an affirmation is missed, a delivery fails on settlement date or a dividend election is lost between custodian and client. This Core Concept course follows the trade lifecycle through the back and middle office: trade capture, confirmation and matching, clearing through central counterparties, delivery-versus-payment settlement, custody and asset servicing, corporate actions, reconciliations and fails management. Participants work on multi-asset case files from brokers, custodians and asset managers and assemble a Post-Trade Exceptions and Controls Playbook.

Course Objectives:

• Map the post-trade chain across brokers, custodians, central counterparties and central securities depositories and locate the hand-off points where trades break
• Apply central counterparty novation, netting and delivery-versus-payment models to explain settlement obligations and principal risk under shortened settlement cycles
• Process trades from capture through confirmation, matching and settlement instruction using accurate standing settlement instructions and static data
• Reconcile securities positions and cash against clearing and custodian statements and resolve breaks by root cause
• Handle custody income, corporate action elections and settlement fails, including market claims, within event deadlines
• Design an operational risk control set and a Post-Trade Exceptions and Controls Playbook with escalation paths and performance indicators

Target Audience:

• Settlement and clearing staff who instruct, monitor and resolve trades at brokers and banks
• Custody and asset servicing staff who safekeep holdings, collect income and process corporate action elections
• Middle-office staff who capture, enrich, confirm and allocate trades for investment managers
• Reconciliation and control staff who investigate cash and position breaks
• Client onboarding and static data staff who maintain accounts, settlement instructions and security master records
• Operational risk staff who monitor controls and incidents in securities processing

Course Outline:

Day 1: Market Infrastructure, Participants and the Post-Trade Chain

• Buy-Side, Sell-Side, Custodian and Market Infrastructure Roles in the Post-Trade Chain
• Trading Venues, Central Counterparties, Central Securities Depositories and Settlement Systems Map
• Front, Middle and Back Office Responsibilities and Hand-Off Points
• Equity, Fixed Income and Fund Unit Instruments: Settlement Characteristics Compared
• Current-State Trade Flow Diagram and Manual Touchpoint Count for a Broker and an Asset Manager

Day 2: Trade Lifecycle Stages, Clearing Models and Settlement Principles

• Trade Lifecycle Stages From Order Receipt to Final Settlement and Books Update
• CPMI-IOSCO Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures: Expectations of CCPs and CSDs
• Central Counterparty Novation, Multilateral Netting and Default Waterfall Overview
• Delivery Versus Payment: The Three BIS DvP Models and Principal Risk
• Settlement Cycle Compression From T+2 to T+1: Timeline and Cut-Off Impacts

Day 3: Trade Capture, Matching, Static Data and Settlement Processing

• Trade Capture and Enrichment: Booking Fields, Allocation and Commission Calculation
• Trade Confirmation, Affirmation and Matching Workflow With Straight-Through Processing Rates
• Client Onboarding and Static Data: Standing Settlement Instructions, Account and Security Master Records
• Settlement Instruction Generation, Pre-Matching and Settlement Date Cash and Stock Projections
• Securities Position and Cash Reconciliation Procedure: Break Ageing and Root Cause Codes

Day 4: Custody, Corporate Actions, Fails and Operational Risk Controls

• Global Custodian and Sub-Custodian Network: Safekeeping, Income Collection, Proxy Voting and Tax Reclaims
• Corporate Action Event Processing: Mandatory, Voluntary and Mandatory With Choice Elections
• Settlement Fails Management: Partial Settlement, Buy-In Exposure and Market Claims
• Operational Risk Control Library for Securities Operations: Four-Eyes Checks, Limits and Key Risk Indicators
• Broker-Client Complaints Handling Overview: Logging, Investigation and Root Cause Feedback

Day 5: Case Work: Post-Trade Exceptions and Controls Playbook

• Case File: Failed Cross-Border Equity Trade Traced From Static Data Error to Market Claim
• Case File: Missed Optional Dividend Election Across a Custodian Chain
• Reconciliation Break Clinic: Clearing Statement, Custodian Statement and Internal Ledger Comparison
• Post-Trade Exceptions and Controls Playbook Drafting: Escalation Paths and Settlement Efficiency Dashboard
• Playbook Peer Review Against Control Testing and Fails Reduction Criteria

Skills You Will Gain:

• Post-Trade Flow Mapping
• Trade Affirmation and Matching
• Standing Settlement Instruction Maintenance
• Settlement Fails Resolution
• Entitlement and Election Processing
• Break Investigation
• Market Claims Handling
• Operational Control Design

Why Attend This Course:

• Return with a Post-Trade Exceptions and Controls Playbook built on case files from brokers, custodians and asset managers
• Shorten the time between a settlement break appearing and its root cause being fixed in static data or process
• Speak the same language as clearing members, custodians and fund managers when chasing a failed delivery or a lost election
• Compare post-trade practice with operations peers from banking, brokerage and investment management across several markets

Conclusion:

A trade is only complete when securities and cash have moved, records agree and every entitlement has reached the right client. The week moves from market participants and infrastructure, through clearing models, delivery-versus-payment and settlement cycles, to trade capture, matching, static data and reconciliation, then to custody, corporate actions, fails, claims, operational controls and complaints at overview. The final day applies these methods to failed-trade and missed-election cases and closes with a Post-Trade Exceptions and Controls Playbook for each participant's own unit.