A rattling good yarn it is not, but Securities Operations: A Guide to Trade and Position Management is probably the first hands-on handbook to look at what it is actually like to capture a trade, reconcile settlement instructions, settle and report transactions and service assets after the fact, including lending and financing securities. In short, this book by Michael Simmons, a former operations chief at SG Warburg now working at Wilco International, is a complete guide to securities clearing, settlement and services.
Michael Simmons joined Wilco in London in 1995. He headed up Wilco’s Business Consultancy department for several years and currently heads a team of securities industry specialists and trainers. Prior to joining Wilco he spent the majority of his career within the SG Warburg Group, where he had multi-departmental management responsibility for settlement activities. His book describes the roles of the various participants within the industry, and clarifies securities operational processing from start to finish by developing the reader’s knowledge of the trade lifecycle and other operational activities in a logical sequence. It conveys the risks inherent in the various activities and the necessary controls to minimise such risks. Descriptions of typical automation in today’s operational processing environment are discussed, and securities industry objectives are described together with the initiatives being developed to achieve them.
“We are very proud of Michael’s achievement, and wish him every success with his book,” says Paul Thomas, director of sales and marketing at Wilco. “Michael’s comprehensive insights into the securities industry will be of value to practitioners on a global basis.”
The book is published by John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-49758-4.