Asset Servicing

Understand the post-trade operating chain, why custody and administration are different services, and the commercial consequences when controls fail.

Module

Asset servicing operations

Custody, settlement, fund accounting, NAV and the controls that protect clients throughout the investment lifecycle.

Practitioner entry point55 min guided lesson

Trading, settlement and the cost of failure

Learn the idea first. Then see a model, walk through a case, practise with support and test recall.

lesson progress

1. Learn the idea

Settlement is the exchange of cash for securities. Markets operate on standard cycles — T+1 in the US and increasingly the target elsewhere — and the custodian instructs, matches and confirms on behalf of the asset owner.

What you will be able to do

• Explain settlement cycles and what happens when a trade fails
• Quantify the commercial impact of settlement failure
• Describe the custodian's role in the settlement chain

Custody vs administration

Practitioner entry point50 min guided lesson

Fund accounting, NAV and the reporting chain

Learn the idea first. Then see a model, walk through a case, practise with support and test recall.

lesson progress

1. Learn the idea

Fund accounting maintains the books of the fund: positions, income, accruals, fees and expenses. NAV is struck at a valuation point using a defined pricing hierarchy and published to investors and platforms.

What you will be able to do

• Reconstruct how a NAV is produced and controlled
• Explain pricing hierarchy and stale-price controls
• Describe what happens when a NAV is wrong

Net asset value (NAV)Custody vs administration