In my current role as a Collateral Consultant I assist with change management and collateral projects by liaising between IT/CMG for all of our projects. I write project charters, analyse test scripts, organize UAT testing, perform UAT tests per management discretion, ensure that all regions are covered by the change request, track project progress and report to management. As a subject matter expert for our collateral system as well as the collateral market in general I field questions on the collateral system as well as research and respond to collateral system technical questions raised by the team. I work on projects to adhere to any regulatory rules that must be followed in regards to Collateral, most recently the Uncleared Margin Rules that came into effect March 1st 2017. Other responsibilities include assisting management in training efforts – either new staff or new processes. I also assist with new client onboardings from beginning to end, including working with our client servicing teams and performing collateral system demos to the prospective client.

In my role as a Senior Collateral Analyst I ensured the amount of collateral held and distrubuted from and to counterparties was correct for an entire portfolio. This included confirming that the amount of collateral held was sufficient for the market value of the assets in a portfolio. I oversaw certain client accounts and transfered US Securites or cash to satisfy collateral requirements. Included in my responsibilities is ensuring internally that the positions were booked correctly and priced correctly based on the trade information provided by the investment manager. If a discrepancy was found I had to liaise with multiple internal teams and identify the error, likewise I communicated with counterparties to ensure they are not in the wrong if all aspects are verified at Northern. Dicrepancies were found doing ad-hoc reconciliations due to disputes as well as the monthly reconciliations I had to perform on all agreements.

In my role as Junior Analyst I was responsible for the correct entry of derivative products into Northern Trust's trade capture system. I was also responsible for the transfer of cash to counterparties, ensuring the positions were reflected correctly in all of Northern's platforms as well as client reporting. I was in charge of resolving any breaks that were associated with the Client's portfolio. This entailed liaising with the counterparties and investment managers when necessary. After being in this position for only a year I was sent to our office in Bangalore to train our support team in India for a month. I trained a team of 7 on the daily processes for certain clients, the end to end life of a trade, and maintenance of accounts. Just before leaving this role to my current position within the bank I was moved to the CCP team, which was created due to the Dodd Frank Act which required certain derivative products to be cleared through a central counterparty.