Clearing, Settlement and Custody [antikvár]

Preface Clearing, settlement and custody is an enormous subject that is at the heart of everything that happens in the financial markets. Today the clearing and settlement process is, in many cases, highly automated and yet sometimes there is still the traditional certificate as evidence of ownership and manual processes to clear and settle transactions in the marketplace. The evolution of clearing and settlement is one that is still happening and as such it is impacting on the operations function through both new practices but also increasingly in terms of regulation, risk and reputation. Until the mid-1990s the issue of clearing and settlement revolved around issues like constraints on business, problems with delayed settlement, dematerialization of settlement and cross-border settlement. The whole focus and image of clearing and settlement was really about administration and there was plenty to focus on. However, the events surrounding a bank operating in derivatives products in Singapore was to change the whole concept of clearing and settlement for ever. The ultimate collapse of Barings Bank was not the result of a single failure or a single act by an individual, but rather a combination of situations and failures in management. What was certain, however, was that there were issues related to operations that hitherto had been considered to be inefficiencies and that would now be recognized as risk.