Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for GWIM Operations Representative

🎯 Role Definition

The GWIM Operations Representative is a client- and results-oriented operations professional responsible for executing day-to-day operational workflows across custody, trade lifecycle, account maintenance, cash and asset movements, and regulatory controls in a wealth management environment. This role partners closely with advisors, relationship managers, custodians, middle and back-office teams, and compliance to ensure timely settlements, accurate client records, robust reconciliations, and a high-quality client experience while mitigating operational and regulatory risk.

Key keywords: GWIM Operations Representative, wealth management operations, trade support, client onboarding, KYC/AML, custody operations, settlement, reconciliations, operational controls, trade lifecycle.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Operations Analyst / Trade Support Analyst
Client Service Representative / Client Onboarding Specialist
Custody or Fund Accounting Assistant

Advancement To:

Senior Operations Representative / Senior Trade Support
Team Lead, Wealth Operations
Manager, GWIM Operations
Product or Process Manager (Operations Transformation)

Lateral Moves:

Compliance Analyst (KYC/AML)
Relationship Management / Private Banker
Risk & Controls Analyst
Client Implementation / Project Management

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Manage end-to-end trade lifecycle activities for equity, fixed income, mutual funds and alternative instruments — intake, validation, allocation, execution confirmation, settlement instructions, and post-trade reconciliation — ensuring adherence to SLA/TAT requirements and minimizing exceptions.
Execute client account openings, transfers and amendments (including ACATs, account type changes, beneficiary updates) by gathering required documentation, validating signatures and forms, and coordinating with onboarding teams and custodians to ensure timely account activation.
Perform detailed KYC/AML/FATCA reviews and account due diligence, identify PEPs and sanction screening hits, escalate suspicious activity to Compliance, and maintain accurate audit trails and remediation documentation.
Reconcile daily cash and position breaks across internal ledgers, third-party custodians, and counterparties; investigate root causes, resolve discrepancies, and document corrective actions to uphold position accuracy and NAV integrity.
Process and settle domestic and international funds movements (wires, ACH, domestic transfers) while applying treasury controls, verifying authorization, and ensuring appropriate FX and routing for cross-border payments.
Monitor trade exceptions, failed trades and corporate actions; coordinate resolution with trading desks, custodians, counterparties and product teams to mitigate settlement risk and ensure timely corporate action elections.
Maintain and update account master data in the core custody/operations systems and CRM (e.g., Pershing, Apex, Broadridge, FIS, Salesforce) ensuring data integrity for client communications, statements and tax reporting.
Provide daily trade support and real-time troubleshooting for advisors and relationship managers, delivering clear status updates, escalation management and root cause explanations to maintain advisor and client satisfaction.
Execute fee and billing processes, calculate advisory and wrap fees, validate billing schedules, apply adjustments, and reconcile fee income with finance and product owners.
Support margin, collateral and lending operations by monitoring lines, processing margin calls, documenting agreements and coordinating collateral movements with lending desks and custodians.
Create, review and distribute client statements, confirmations and regulatory notices; ensure accurate content, timely delivery and resolve client queries about statement discrepancies.
Participate in operational risk and controls frameworks — maintain process controls, complete attestations, support remediation plans and implement control enhancements following incidents or audit findings.
Lead transaction documentation and record retention activities to support regulatory examinations, internal audits and client inquiries — provide documentation, reconciliations and explanation of remediation steps.
Coordinate account transfers and migrations (custodian to custodian) including pre-transfer validations, client communications and reconciliation of inbound/outbound positions to reduce transfer failures and shorten transfer timelines.
Implement and manage exception queues and workflow automation within operations platforms to improve throughput, reduce manual errors and streamline triage of high-priority exceptions.
Support tax reporting processes (1099, 1042-S, tax lot reporting) by validating tax data, matching records with custodians and preparing supporting documentation for tax teams and clients.
Administer corporate action processing for multiple product types — verify entitlements, process elections, calculate eligibilities, and liaise with issuers and custodians to execute client instructions accurately.
Assist with regulatory reporting and surveillance activities (e.g., trade reporting, OFAC, sanctions filings) ensuring required disclosures are accurate and submitted within regulatory timeframes.
Provide training and subject-matter expertise to junior operations staff on trade processing, reconciliations, system functionality and controls to build a robust operations team.
Drive continuous process improvement initiatives using Lean, Six Sigma or Agile techniques — analyze process metrics, recommend automation or remediation, and lead small-scale implementation projects to increase efficiency and reduce risk.
Manage vendor and custodial relationships for operational connectivity, data feeds and exception handling; coordinate testing, service level reviews and remediation of production issues.
Prepare and deliver operational performance metrics, SLA reporting and root cause analysis to senior management, product partners and control functions to inform decision-making and process prioritization.
Support onboarding of new products and system changes — map workflow impacts, update procedures, execute user acceptance testing (UAT), and provide post-implementation support to ensure stable production rollout.
Execute ad hoc investigations into trade failures, client disputes, reconciliation breaks or audit findings; compile accurate incident reports and propose corrective action plans with stakeholders.

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 relationship managers with client escalations by providing operational context, timelines and remediation options.
Participate in cross-functional change control boards to review proposed system modifications and evaluate operational impact.
Maintain and update standard operating procedures (SOPs), runbooks and training materials to reflect current processes and control requirements.
Support periodic business continuity and disaster recovery exercises for critical operational workflows and systems.
Respond to regulatory and internal audit requests by pulling required data extracts, reconciliations and control evidence.
Act as a backup for senior operations colleagues during peak volumes, vacations and audit periods.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Deep knowledge of trade lifecycle and custody operations (settlement, clearing, reconciliation).
Strong proficiency with custody and operations platforms (examples: Pershing, Broadridge, FIS, Apex, SS&C), and familiarity with CRMs such as Salesforce.
Advanced Excel skills (VLOOKUP, INDEX-MATCH, pivot tables, macros) for reconciliation and ad-hoc analysis.
Experience with SWIFT messages, ACH/Wire processing and domestic/international payment formats.
Practical understanding of KYC/AML, sanctions screening and regulatory obligations (FATCA, CRS, OFAC).
Working knowledge of reconciliation tools and techniques; comfortable with automated exception management systems.
Familiarity with portfolio accounting and tax reporting processes (1099s, tax lot accounting).
Basic SQL or data query skills for extracting and validating operational data (desirable).
Experience with ticketing and workflow platforms (e.g., ServiceNow, Jira, internal queue systems).
Exposure to process improvement methodologies (Lean, Six Sigma, Agile) and automation tools (RPA, scripting).
Understanding of corporate actions processing across equities and fixed income.
Experience preparing operational metrics and SLA reporting for management and risk teams.

Soft Skills

Exceptional attention to detail and highly accurate data handling.
Strong verbal and written communication skills for client-facing interactions and cross-functional collaboration.
Problem-solving mindset with ability to triage and resolve complex exceptions under time pressure.
Effective time management and multitasking—able to prioritize high-impact tasks and meet deadlines.
Collaborative team player who partners with trading, advisory, compliance and IT teams.
Customer-centric orientation with a proactive approach to improving client outcomes.
Strong organizational skills and ability to document processes and decisions clearly.
Resilience and adaptability to changing priorities, regulatory shifts, and high-volume workflows.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree (or equivalent) in Finance, Business Administration, Accounting, Economics or related field (or relevant work experience in operations).

Preferred Education:

Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business or related discipline; advanced or professional certifications a plus (e.g., CAMS, CFP, Series 7/63 where applicable).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Finance
Accounting
Business Administration
Economics
Information Systems / Data Analytics (beneficial)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

2–5 years of operations experience in wealth management, brokerage, custody, fund accounting, or a related financial services environment.

Preferred:

3–6+ years of progressively responsible experience supporting GWIM or private bank operations, trade support, custodial services, or client onboarding with demonstrated knowledge of KYC/AML, reconciliations and settlement processes.