Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Financial Services Administrator

🎯 Role Definition

A Financial Services Administrator is responsible for day-to-day operational support of financial products and client accounts across banking, investment, and wealth management services. This hands-on role manages client onboarding, transaction processing, reconciliations, reporting, regulatory compliance, and cross-functional coordination to ensure accurate, timely and compliant delivery of financial services. The position requires strong attention to detail, excellent communication skills, and familiarity with core financial systems and regulatory requirements (KYC, AML, FINRA/SEC where applicable).

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Administrative Assistant in Finance or Banking
Client Services Representative / Relationship Support Specialist
Bank Teller or Loan Processor

Advancement To:

Senior Financial Services Administrator / Lead Administrator
Operations Manager or Team Lead (Client Operations)
Compliance Specialist or Risk Analyst
Relationship Manager / Client Services Manager

Lateral Moves:

Trust or Custody Administrator
Loan or Mortgage Processor
Account Reconciliation Specialist
Billing and Invoicing Coordinator

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Manage full client account lifecycle including new account setup, beneficiary changes, account maintenance, documentation management, and closure actions while ensuring strict adherence to KYC/AML requirements and internal control policies.
Conduct detailed daily processing of client transactions (transfers, deposits, withdrawals, trades, wire transfers, ACH) and verify accuracy against trade tickets, client instructions and settlement instructions to minimize operational risk.
Perform timely and accurate reconciliations of cash, position, and ledger balances across internal systems and custodial platforms, identify variances, investigate root causes and coordinate corrective action with custodians and other teams.
Serve as the primary point of contact for client inquiries regarding account status, transaction confirmations, statement queries, and basic investment or product information, escalating complex issues to advisors or senior operations staff.
Prepare, generate and distribute client statements, periodic reporting packages, regulatory filings and ad-hoc reports using CRM and reporting tools; ensure reports meet quality and regulatory standards.
Execute client onboarding and account opening processes, including collecting and verifying identification documents, completing account applications, screening for sanctions and negative news, and coordinating with compliance for approvals.
Maintain and update client records in the CRM and core account systems, ensuring accurate contact information, investment preferences, mandate documents and service-level agreements are documented and accessible.
Coordinate inbound and outbound transfers of assets (ACATS/transfer agents/custodians), monitor transfer statuses, reconcile receipts, and resolve exceptions with external counterparties to ensure timely settlement.
Support billing operations including fee calculations, invoice generation, client billing queries, and adjustment processing while maintaining accurate fee schedules and documentation for audit trails.
Monitor day-to-day operational workflows and service levels, use ticketing systems to triage work, maintain SLA targets and provide status updates to stakeholders and management.
Execute periodic compliance checks and support internal audits by compiling required documentation, preparing reconciliation schedules and responding to audit inquiries in a timely manner.
Maintain a strong knowledge of product features, pricing, eligibility rules and operational workflows for savings, checking, investments, loans and trust services to support cross-product client servicing.
Prepare and reconcile payroll or commission spreadsheets for advisers or internal teams where applicable, working with HR and finance to validate calculations and resolve discrepancies.
Implement and maintain record retention and archival procedures for client files, transaction records and regulatory correspondence in accordance with company policies and legal requirements.
Create and maintain standard operating procedures, process documentation and training guides to ensure knowledge transfer and consistency across the operations team.
Proactively identify process bottlenecks and recommend operational improvements using data-driven analysis, automation opportunities and best practices to increase efficiency and reduce error rates.
Liaise with custodians, brokers, clearing houses and third-party vendors to resolve exceptions, obtain confirmations, and coordinate system reconciliations and connectivity issues.
Manage end-to-end exception handling: investigate failed trades, unmatched items, stale positions, and cash shortfalls, document findings and remedial steps and escalate unresolved issues.
Validate and process client billing disputes, refunds, adjustments and manual journals while ensuring full documentation and approval flows are maintained for auditability.
Support onboarding and integration projects by mapping operational requirements, validating data migrations, testing system changes and training staff on new processes or platforms.
Track regulatory and policy changes relevant to operations (e.g. AML, OFAC, privacy, FINRA/SEC updates), update internal procedures and assist compliance with implementation and reporting.
Generate KPIs and operational dashboards (turnaround times, exception rates, account opening metrics) and present findings to management to support decision-making and continuous improvement.
Provide day-to-day operational support to relationship managers and financial advisors, preparing client meeting materials, performance reports and ad-hoc account analyses as requested.
Ensure confidentiality and security of client information at all times, applying best practices around information governance, secure document handling and approved communication channels.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Assist with periodic training programs for new hires and cross-training within the operations team.
Provide back-up coverage for related operational functions during peak periods or staff absence.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Advanced Microsoft Excel skills (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, macros basics) for reconciliations and reporting.
Hands-on experience with CRM and core account platforms (Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics or proprietary banking systems) and strong data entry accuracy.
Familiarity with custodial and trading platforms and transfer processes (ACATS/DTCC concepts, transfer agents, clearing/custody workflows).
Strong reconciliation and general ledger posting experience, including cash and position reconciliations across multiple systems.
Knowledge of KYC/AML, OFAC screening, sanctions and regulatory compliance processes and the ability to execute compliance checks.
Experience preparing and distributing client statements, periodic reporting packs and regulatory reports with attention to formatting and regulatory requirements.
Working knowledge of billing and invoicing systems, fee calculations, and client billing dispute resolution.
Proficiency with ticketing and workflow systems (Jira, ServiceNow, or similar) to manage and document operational tasks and exceptions.
Exposure to audit support and regulatory exam preparation including documentation, evidence gathering and remediation tracking.
Basic SQL or data-querying ability and familiarity with data visualization tools (Power BI, Tableau) is a plus for ad-hoc reporting tasks.
Comfortable using document management systems and following secure record retention practices (SharePoint, DocuSign or equivalent).

Soft Skills

Exceptional attention to detail with strong accuracy in data entry and reconciliation activities.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills for client-facing correspondence and cross-team collaboration.
Strong organizational and time management skills; ability to prioritize tasks in a high-volume, deadline-driven environment.
Customer service orientation with the ability to manage sensitive client relationships professionally and empathetically.
Analytical and problem-solving mindset to investigate exceptions, identify root causes and implement corrective actions.
Team player who collaborates well across operations, compliance, technology and relationship management teams.
High level of integrity and discretion handling confidential client and firm information.
Adaptability and comfort with changing processes, regulatory updates and evolving business priorities.
Initiative and ownership mentality; proactive in identifying improvements and driving implementation.
Resilience under pressure and ability to meet SLAs consistently during peak workload periods.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

High school diploma or equivalent; relevant vocational certification accepted.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, Economics or related field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Finance
Accounting
Business Administration
Economics
Risk Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years in financial services operations, client administration, banking operations, or similar roles.

Preferred: 3+ years of progressive experience administering client accounts in banking, investment management, wealth management or brokerage environments, with demonstrable experience in reconciliations, KYC/AML processing, and client reporting.