Product Description

The only comprehensive account of operational risk in securities settlements
Securities Operations focuses on the settlement aspects of a securities transaction. As financial analysts make a greater effort toward quantifying and managing operational risk, they are paying more attention to securities transactions in general and to the settlement phase in particular. While describing the practical issues, this book enumerates the different "back office" related risks potentially encountered throughout the settlement. Simmons also covers more advanced topics such as derivatives, trade compensation, internal allocation of funding costs, and operational performance measurement.
Michael Simmons (London, UK) is currently Head of Business Consultancy at Wilco International, a major software systems provider to the financial markets.
Over the years, financial professionals around the world have looked to the Wiley Finance series and its wide array of bestselling books for the knowledge, insights, and techniques that are essential to success in financial markets. As the pace of change in financial markets and instruments quickens, Wiley Finance continues to respond. With critically acclaimed books by leading thinkers on value investing, risk management, asset allocation, and many other critical subjects, the Wiley Finance series provides the financial community with information they want. Written to provide professionals and individuals with the most current thinking from the best minds in the industry, it is no wonder that the Wiley Finance series is the first and last stop for financial professionals looking to increase their financial expertise.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19602 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 486 pages

Review
"…Securities Operations provides an accessible and thorough review of the world of securities processing…its language is clear and its structure is excellent…Importantly, the author compliments this overview with useful worked examples and diagrammatic representations that add greatly to the readers understanding…" (GSCS Benchmarks, Vol.10, No.5)

Review
"…Securities Operations provides an accessible and thorough review of the world of securities processing…its language is clear and its structure is excellent…Importantly, the author compliments this overview with useful worked examples and diagrammatic representations that add greatly to the readers understanding…" (GSCS Benchmarks, Vol.10, No.5)

From the Inside Flap
As the securities industry becomes increasingly automated, understanding of the start–to–end operational processes and the underlying reasons as to why the tasks are performed is likely to diminish. Yet, knowledge of the ′bigger picture′ is essential for implementing efficiencies and benefits. In this book, Michael Simmons clarifies the operational process from start to finish, highlighting appropriate risk management strategies.

The book:
∗ Introduces the reasons for the existence of securities and describes the roles of the various participants within the industry
∗ Develops the reader′s knowledge of the trade lifecycle and other operational activities in a logical sequence
∗ Describes real–life events to illustrate topics
∗ Conveys both the risks inherent in the various activities and the necessary controls to minimise such risks
∗ Provides descriptions of typical automation in today′s operational processing environment
∗ Describes securities industry objectives and the initiatives being developed to achieve them.

Customer Reviews

Required Reading
For anyone in and around the investment bank industry this is required reading. It covers the entire gamut of the operations unit, from Trade Validation and Agreement, through Settlement Instruction Status management, to Position Keeping & Funding.

It is easy to read and very much "what does happen in the real world" rather than theory. I've read many books of this ilk and this is best of breed.

The Best Financial Software Developer/Investment Banker's Introduction and Reference!
Michael Simmons' Securities Operations: A Guide to Trade and Position Management is IMHOP the best Financial Securities Operations text {Back, Front, Middle office; tilts more towards the Back}, for a new or even seasoned developer, app support, bus/sys analyst or investment banker. I work with traders, back & middle office and IT staff implemeting & supporting financial software at a top global investment bank, and though I have a fairly good financial background this book does a lot for me. It is very much what happens on the ground and reflects the others rich experience! For those developing, using, training or supporting financial s/w [Equities, Futures, FX, Options, Risk, Operations, etc.] it is easily the best.

In 450 pages it clearly and succintly covers the full gamut of the operations cycle and instrument types with sufficient details of data strucures and workflows, to design and develop a reasonably complete productline of client prototypes and services kernel of investment banking software, even covering relatively obscure areas like primary market, lending & colllateral operations. You only need to flesh them out with product, algorithmic or customer-specific requirements. No other book on the market comes close; indeed it covers STP better than the dedicated STP books. Some reviewers - who may not have really read the book - say it is euro-centric, outdated, etc. and rate it poorly; I beg to differ! It is as error-free as any book can get and includes tables and diagrams that make it enjoyable reading. It does not adequately hit areas such as details of derivative products, pricing algorithms, etc. but it is simply impossible to cover such areas and still maintain focus on the fundamentals. In addition, it does not cover some of the latest developments, e.g continuous settlement [2nd edition is due, methink]; this should, however not detract from it's utility, accuracy or overall quality at all.

Having said this, finer details of certain topics are better obtained from Larry Harris' Trading and Exchanges: Market Microstructure for Practitioners, which I consider the second best; he goes deeper than Simmons into exchange/market & brokerage structures, operations, behaviour and arbitrage. Other very good books that are must-read: Yogesh Shetty's Practical .NET for Financial Markets (Expert's Voice in .Net) - lots of good source code; Alexander Kuznetsov's The Complete Guide to Capital Markets for Quantitative Professionals (McGraw-Hill Library of Investment and Finance) is quite recent with a basic introduction to derivatives, algorithmic trading and quantitatives with good references; Michael Simmon's other book Corporate Actions: A Guide to Securities Event Management (The Wiley Finance Series); Jeremiah J. O'Oconnell's Handbook of Global Securities Operatiions. Frankly, there are several others but IMHOP these are the best after reading and previewing several of them. If you must choose only two or three your best bet would be the first Simmons book, Larry Harris, and Shetty. [I do not know any of these authors; just saying it as I see it and giving a bit back for the helpful reviews I often read.]

Good one
Covers the subject well, but badly needs a good editor.
The author’s style of writing reminds me of my school textbooks.

Overall it will be a good buy because there is no other book that covers the subject so well.