Job Title:

Corporate Actions Analyst

Level:

Temporary

closing date:

Reports To:

Director

OVERVIEW OF THE DEPARTMENT

The Shanghai Position Services group is primarily an asset servicing team responsible for managing the timely and accurate processing of all events which impact security positions held by our clients and proprietary trading desks. The group consists of the following teams: Mandatory Equity Corporate Actions, Dividends (including Optional Dividends), Japanese Coupons (Principal & Interest), CSG, research  and Proxy Voting.

The aims of Position Services include but are not limited to :

·         Protecting the firm and its clients against the risks associated with corporate action, dividend and proxy event processing. These risks may be financial, regulatory, franchise, market or operational.

·         Be the single source of high quality global corporate action information to the firm

·         Provide exceptional processing services to the firm’s Global businesses in all aspects of Asset Servicing as measured by our quality, cost effectiveness and proactive support

·         Take a leadership role in industry forums to seek solutions to common problems and issues within the world of Asset Servicing.

Shanghai Position Services currently has 25 staff, and rolls up to the SSBO division within Operations.

The Corporate actions team are responsible for processing and managing the risks associated with all Asia Pacific corporate action events. 

TEAM STRUCTURE – brief overview

The Corporate Actions team consists of 25 people split into 4 sub teams; An event processing team, a deadlines team,  an exception management team and an event research / setup team.

The combined group is responsible for performing the reconciliation and releasing of all corporate actions events covered within our market remit.  The team is also responsible for reconciling the event post-pay date and ensuring that all client, institutional, stock lending and external depot positions are correctly booked on the books and records of the firm. 

The team interacts with a number of other groups within Morgan Stanley on a daily basis such as Stock Loan, Client Services, Financial Controllers, Private Wealth Management, International Prime Brokerage and Prime Brokerage.

The department has been established in Shanghai for several years and has developed itself into a highly efficient and successful operation, providing first class service to our clients. This has been achieved through strong focus on control, commerciality and people. We are looking for dynamic and hard-working candidates to continue the positive progression of the department.

SKILLS REQUIRED

Skills Required/Preferred

·         Strong Communication skills - English

·         Proactive team player

·         Ability to grasp detailed concepts quickly

·         Highly committed & self motivated with professional outlook

·         High regard for attention to detail, accuracy & quality

·         Strong organizational skills, to be able to use time well and prioritise tasks effectively.

·         Ability to adapt to the changing needs of the department

·         Ability to drive, as well as being able to effectively and quickly adapt to change

OVERVIEW OF THE ROLE

The group interacts with a number of other groups within the firm on a daily basis such as Stock Loan, Financial and Tax Controllers, IPB and PB, and PWM. Given the cyclical nature of our volumes, extra focus is required during the peak months, which increases the demands, placed on us by our clients and in the main the role can be split into the following functions and tasks:

·         Research / Event Setup - The successful candidate will have responsibility for ensuring accurate set up of events – they will be expected to ensure data accuracy and contact internal product/set up groups to ensure events have the correct information before processing data.  This part of the role requires the individual to perform a number of pre pay date checks to reduce margin of error on pay date as there are significant downstream dependencies on this task.

·         Releasing Events – On pay date the individual will be required to reconcile complex accounting structures to ensure that the correct value or the dividend is paid to all areas of the business.  This part of the role requires the individual to be accurate, methodical, organised and communicative as they could liaise with any area of the business to resolve reconciliation areas from client to trade areas. 

·         Post pay date reconciliation – This requires much focus on diligence, accuracy and self motivation to ensure that risk is controlled and targets are met.  Much of the reconciliation piece can be complex and resolution requires more than one analyst to work together to ensure correct outcome.

·         Risk Management – The reconciliation work that is conducted is high volume in addition to high value.  The individual must work closely with their line management in prioritisation of key breaks to be resolved and identify breaks that may cause losses within their daily role.

·         Ad Hoc Queries – Dealing with ad hoc requests from all CSG areas/ trading areas (equity and stock lending) / Private Wealth Management groups / Financial Controllers as and when they arise.