The main business carried out by the operations team is clearing and settling trades. Clearing trades involves making sure that the records one bank has kept of the sale of a financial security match those of the bank or organisation it was sold to.. In most cases, simple trades are cleared automatically through huge electronic systems such as the Brussels-based Euroclear.

Settlements professionals ensure that stocks or shares bought and sold by the bank's traders are exchanged for the correct amount of money. A settlements job is essentially a processing and controlling position involving matching instructions with counterparties, and arranging and monitoring payments.

Settlements cover everything from preparing the documentation required for a sale to making sure the bank has been paid for all the shares it has sold and bought. Settlements professionals resolve any problems with counterparties which may arise, and they review unsettled trades to ensure timely completion. Many jobs in this sector require knowledge of systems such as CCASS, DCCASS and SWIFT, and Euroclear/Clearstream.

Financial services operations are increasingly becoming automated, therefore most operations sector jobs involve intervening when electronic systems fail (so-called 'exceptions'), or devising new, more efficient ways of making technology systems and operations processes work.

Clearing and settlements junior staff spend a lot of time dealing with the exceptions and figuring out what went wrong. A large proportion of simple clearing and settlements work takes place in low cost centres such as Mumbai or the Philippines.

Closer to the trading floor is the role of the trade support officer. This job requires a whole range of different assets, from equities and bonds to commodities or derivatives. Trade support officers deal with any queries a trader might have - everything from reconciliation issues to any discrepancies between the various counterparties involved in the trades.

Advanced operations jobs higher up the hierarchy are more strategic in nature and operations departments employ a lot of project managers and business analysts. These project managers may look at ways of streamlining the exceptions process, or working with off-shored teams to determine how to make processes work more efficiently and (further) reduce costs.

It's not only banks that employ settlements staff - hedge funds settlements professionals, for example, ensure trades are booked and reported to the prime broker/custodian.