Clearing, Settlement and Custody

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 ...