Settlements Analyst
79% skill overlap
To add: Trade lifecycle, Querying data with SQL
Your role
Custody Operations Analyst
Full profileYour role
- L3 salary
- Not published yet
- Upcoming dated changes
- 8 changes ahead
What the role does
A custody operations analyst safekeeps securities for clients such as funds, insurers and banks, and services them through their life. The role settles client trades through a network of sub-custodians and central securities depositories, reconciles holdings, processes income and corporate actions, handles tax relief at source and reclaims, and protects client assets through segregation and record keeping. It applies rules such as CSDR and, for funds, depositary duties under UCITS and AIFMD.
Read a day in the life
A day in the life
The analyst starts with the reconciliation of client holdings against sub-custodian statements in several markets. Two breaks appear: one is a trade settled late in an Asian market, the other a stock split booked by the sub-custodian but not yet internally. Both are investigated and corrected. Mid-morning goes to client trades: a fund manager sent instructions after the market deadline, so the analyst asks the sub-custodian for best efforts and keeps the client informed. Next is income: a dividend paid net of the wrong withholding rate is traced to missing tax documents, and the analyst starts a reclaim. After lunch the analyst answers queries from a fund administrator and a depositary team about holdings used for the net asset value. Then comes a review of a sub-custodian service report, with late settlements flagged to the network management team. The day ends with updating the open items log and preparing evidence for a client asset audit.
Levels
- L1 Starting out
- L2 Independent
- L3 Senior or specialist
- L4 Leads a team or an area
- L5 Leads the function
Full level descriptions and job titles
The EFO level names are the common scale; job titles differ between employers.
| Level | What the work looks like | Typical years | Typical job titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 Starting out | Processes settlements, income and reconciliations for assigned clients with defined procedures, answers simple queries and learns markets, sub-custodian networks and systems under supervision. | 0-2 | Banks: Analyst, Junior Analyst, Associate (asset servicing), Trainee, GraduateAsset servicers: Junior, Specialist (entry), Officer |
| L2 Independent | Owns servicing for a client group or market end to end, resolves complex breaks, tax and income issues, and trains L1 analysts. First contact for clients and sub-custodians. | 2-5 | Banks: Analyst / Senior Analyst, AssociateAsset servicers: Specialist, Senior Specialist, Senior Officer |
| L3 Senior or specialist | Specialist in markets, tax or client asset protection, handles client onboarding, migrations and exceptions, and represents custody operations in audits and projects. | 5-9 | Banks: Senior Associate, AVP, Assistant ManagerAsset servicers: Senior Specialist, Expert, Team Lead (small team) |
| L4 Leads a team or an area | Manages a custody operations team, owns service levels, client asset controls and key risk indicators, and is the escalation point for clients, sub-custodians and depositary teams. | 8-14 | Banks: VP, Manager, Senior ManagerAsset servicers: Team Lead, Manager, Head of Section |
| L5 Leads the function | Head of custody operations for a legal entity or region, sets the operating model and control standards, and represents the function with clients, market infrastructures and supervisors. | 12+ | Banks: Director, Executive Director, Managing Director, Head of functionAsset servicers: Head of Department, Director |
Skills
Where the skill weights come from
Each role lists its skills with a tier and a weight. The weights of one role add up to 100 percent.
Source: the EFO role catalogue, built from the ESCO classification and reviewed by the editors.
The percentage is the skill's share of the role; the bars are drawn relative to the anchor skill, which is shown full.
Critical
- Custody and asset servicingWeight 15.4%Relevant to you
- Settlement and fails managementWeight 10.3%Relevant to you
- Corporate actions processingWeight 10.3%Relevant to you
Important and supporting skills 18
Important
- Attention to detailWeight 5.1%Relevant to you
- Collateral and marginingWeight 5.1%Relevant to you
- Trading and risk systems (Murex, Calypso)Weight 5.1%Relevant to you
- Payment systems and messaging (SWIFT, ISO 20022, SEPA, ACH, UPI)Weight 5.1%Relevant to you
- Investigative reasoning on anomaliesWeight 5.1%Relevant to you
- Working to tight deadlinesWeight 5.1%Relevant to you
- Advanced Microsoft ExcelWeight 5.1%Relevant to you
- Risk judgment and escalation instinctWeight 5.1%Relevant to you
- Investment book of record and portfolio dataWeight 5.1%Relevant to you
Supporting
- Financial markets knowledgeWeight 2.6%Relevant to you
- Client service mindsetWeight 2.6%Relevant to you
- Professional written communicationWeight 2.6%Relevant to you
- Period-end close and reconciliationsWeight 2.6%Relevant to you
- Control mindset (what could go wrong)Weight 2.6%Relevant to you
- Ticketing platforms (ServiceNow)Weight 2.6%Relevant to you
Useful
- Data cleaning and validationWeight 0.9%Relevant to you
- Stakeholder managementWeight 0.9%Relevant to you
- Conduct and investor protection rules (MiFID II, FINRA, SEBI)Weight 0.9%Relevant to you
Processes
The work the role takes part in.
What each process covers
- Corporate actionsMain
- Custody and safekeepingMain
- Securities settlementMain
- Collateral and marginingSupporting
- Investment and reference dataSupporting
- Market risk measurementSupporting
- Payments processingSupporting
- Trade capture and bookingSupporting
Where the role concentrates
How AI is changing the role
Settlement, reconciliation and income processing are highly automated, and AI tools now read sub-custodian notices, predict late settlements and answer routine client queries.
Read the full assessment
Settlement, reconciliation and income processing are highly automated, and AI tools now read sub-custodian notices, predict late settlements and answer routine client queries. Manual processing roles are shrinking, especially in service centres. Value grows in market knowledge, tax and client asset rules, handling exceptions and explaining issues to clients. Tokenised securities and new digital market infrastructure may change how safekeeping works, which favours analysts who keep learning. The World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2025 lists technological literacy among the skills growing fastest.
Dated changes for this role
- ESMA guidelines on allocations and confirmations for T+1Relevant to you
- CSDR settlement discipline rules updated for T+1 in three stepsRelevant to you
- ECB Pontes: DLT settlement in central bank moneyRelevant to you
- UK cryptoasset regime: application window and start dateRelevant to you
- Switzerland and Liechtenstein move to T+1 with the EU and UKRelevant to you
Worth knowing
Salary snapshot
Salary figures are not published yet
The L3 salary range for this role, with its sources, will appear here when the salaries section opens.
Certifications
- FRM
- PRM
- CFA Program Level I
- ACCA Qualification
Concepts to know
- Corporate action
- CSD (Central securities depository)
- Custodian
- DVP (Delivery versus payment)
- Reconciliation
- Settlement fail
- T+1 (Settlement cycle)
- Asset servicing
All 24 concepts
- Cash penalty (CSDR)
- CSDR (Central Securities Depositories Regulation)
- CSDR settlement discipline
- Dematerialisation
- Depositary (funds)
- ECMS (Eurosystem Collateral Management System)
- FASTER directive
- Free of payment (FOP)
- ICSD (International central securities depository)
- Income collection
- Mandatory corporate action
- Omnibus account
- Partial settlement
- Proxy voting
- Record date
- Safekeeping
Neighbouring roles
Roles that need many of the same skills, by weighted skill overlap, with the skills you would need to add.
Corporate Actions Analyst
73% skill overlap
To add: Trade lifecycle, Corporate governance, Querying data with SQL
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Middle Office Analyst
64% skill overlap
To add: Trade lifecycle, Derivatives and how they work, Querying data with SQL
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Confirmations Analyst
61% skill overlap
To add: Trade lifecycle, Derivatives and how they work, Querying data with SQL
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Reconciliations Analyst
61% skill overlap
To add: Trade lifecycle, Derivatives and how they work, Querying data with SQL
Your role
Collateral Management Analyst
58% skill overlap
To add: Trade lifecycle, Derivatives and how they work, Securities financing (repo and securities lending)
Your role
Do this job? Suggest a correction
Sources
CSDR (Central Securities Depositories Regulation)The Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR), Regulation (EU) No 909/2014, sets EU rules for the authorisation and supervision of central securities depositories and for securities settlement. It requires book-entry form, harmonised settlement cycles and settlement discipline, and was amended by the CSDR Refit (2023/2845) and the T+1 regulation (2025/2075).
UCITS (Undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities)A UCITS is an open-ended investment fund authorised under Directive 2009/65/EC that invests in liquid financial assets under diversification and leverage limits. A UCITS authorised in one member state can be marketed to retail investors across the EU with a passport, and it must appoint a depositary.
AIFMD (Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive)The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), Directive 2011/61/EU, regulates managers of funds that are not UCITS, such as hedge, private equity, real estate and infrastructure funds. It sets authorisation, capital, depositary, reporting and marketing rules; Directive (EU) 2024/927 (AIFMD II) adds loan origination and liquidity rules.
Sub-custodianA sub-custodian, also called a local agent, is a custodian in a given market that holds securities and settles trades there on behalf of a global custodian or another intermediary. It connects to the local CSD, processes local corporate actions and tax, and reports to the custodian above it in the holding chain.