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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Operations Agent – National Bank Financial

💰 $ - $

OperationsFinancial ServicesBankingInvestment Operations

🎯 Role Definition

The Operations Agent at National Bank Financial is a client- and process-focused back-office professional responsible for accurate, timely processing of trades and account activity, resolving settlement exceptions, maintaining regulatory and client documentation, and supporting advisors and internal stakeholders. This role ensures operational excellence across securities settlements, mutual fund processing, account servicing, and regulatory compliance while continuously improving processes to reduce risk and meet SLAs.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Client Service Representative in wealth management or retail banking
  • Junior Operations or Trade Support Analyst in brokerage or fund services
  • Administrative role supporting an investment or advisory team

Advancement To:

  • Senior Operations Agent / Trade Support Specialist
  • Team Lead, Operations or Settlement Supervisor
  • Operations Manager or Head of Investment Operations

Lateral Moves:

  • Compliance Analyst (KYC/AML)
  • Client Onboarding Specialist
  • Portfolio Administration / Transfer Agency roles

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Receive, validate and accurately enter trade instructions for equities, fixed income and mutual funds into the order management and back-office systems, ensuring complete trade capture and adherence to client instructions and regulatory requirements.
  • Monitor trade lifecycle and ownership changes from execution through settlement, proactively identifying and resolving settlement breaks, fails, and exceptions by liaising with trading desks, custodians, counterparties and custodial platforms.
  • Reconcile daily trade activity, cash movements and position records against custodial and clearing reports, investigate discrepancies, prepare root-cause documentation and implement corrective actions to prevent recurrence.
  • Process new account openings, transfers, conversions, and account maintenance requests (e.g., beneficiary updates, address changes, account type changes) ensuring required KYC and documentation are complete and uploaded to account files.
  • Execute and confirm money movements including redemptions, subscriptions, transfers, wires and electronic funds transfers, verifying source documentation and matching payments to client accounts within required settlement windows.
  • Prepare and distribute client and advisor trade confirmations, settlement advices and transactional reporting, ensuring accuracy and timely delivery while maintaining confidentiality and regulatory recordkeeping standards.
  • Conduct KYC/AML reviews and periodic client due diligence: gather documentation, verify identity and source of funds, escalate suspicious activity to Compliance and support FINTRAC/AML reporting requirements.
  • Review and process corporate actions (e.g., dividends, splits, mergers, proxy voting instructions), determine entitlements, update positions and advise internal stakeholders of client impacts and optional elections.
  • Support margin and collateral administration tasks, calculate and reconcile margin requirements, monitor margin calls and liaise with advisors and clients to ensure timely maintenance of required collateral.
  • Maintain thorough audit trails and electronic documentation for all operational activities, supporting internal and external audits, regulatory examinations and ensuring compliance with National Bank Financial policies and industry regulations.
  • Investigate client inquiries related to trades, account balances, settlement status and fees; provide clear explanations, research historical activity and follow up to resolution in a timely manner to maintain high client satisfaction.
  • Coordinate transfer agency and mutual fund transactions through FundSERV and other platforms, ensuring correct order routing, settlement codes and fund dealer documentation are applied.
  • Execute daily operational controls and reconciliations for settlement systems, bank accounts and clearing broker reports; prepare variance reports and escalate material exceptions to management.
  • Assist advisors and relationship managers with complex operational requests such as estate account administration, registered plan transfers (RRSP, TFSA), and corporate account documentation, ensuring compliance with plan rules and tax regulations.
  • Investigate and resolve failed trade instructions and matching breaks by tracing messages across custodial and clearing systems, preparing escalation memos and negotiating resolutions with counterparties and internal teams.
  • Maintain and update operational procedures, run books and knowledge base articles to reflect system changes, process improvements and regulatory updates; participate in continuous improvement initiatives to streamline workflows and reduce manual touchpoints.
  • Support onboarding of new advisors or clients by coordinating opening documentation, system setup, funding instructions and knowledge-transfer with sales and compliance teams to achieve go-live targets.
  • Ensure adherence to established service level agreements (SLAs) and key performance indicators (KPIs) for trade processing, settlement accuracy and client response times; report on performance and contribute to remedial action plans where required.
  • Participate in testing of system upgrades, new vendor platforms and process redesigns by validating data flows, reconciling test transactions and documenting defects to minimize production risk during rollout.
  • Manage third-party relationships with custodians, clearing agents and transfer agents, escalating service issues, coordinating reconciliations and negotiating timelines to protect client assets and service continuity.
  • Prepare regulatory and statutory reports as required by internal control functions or regulators, compile data for management reporting and support preparation of documentation for external audits and compliance reviews.
  • Train and mentor junior operations staff, share best practices, and contribute to a collaborative team environment that emphasizes continuous learning, risk awareness and high-quality client service.
  • Act as backup for other operations functions during peak periods or staff shortages, demonstrating flexibility and cross-functional capability to maintain uninterrupted processing and client service.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc operational projects and cross-functional initiatives that improve operational efficiency, risk controls and client outcomes.
  • Assist in the preparation of management and regulatory reporting, including compiling transaction summary reports and exception logs.
  • Contribute to the organization's process documentation and standard operating procedures to ensure consistent, auditable workflows.
  • Collaborate with IT and vendor partners to troubleshoot and resolve system issues that impact settlement, account maintenance and reporting workflows.
  • Participate in continuous improvement and lean initiatives to streamline manual processes, reduce settlement fails and improve straight-through processing (STP) rates.
  • Provide coverage for other back-office teams during vacations, surges and peak periods to ensure business continuity.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Trade processing and settlement expertise across equities, fixed income and mutual funds, with a clear understanding of trade lifecycle and settlement conventions in Canada.
  • Strong reconciliation skills: daily position, cash and settlement reconciliations with custodians, clearing brokers and internal ledgers.
  • Practical knowledge of KYC, AML processes and regulatory requirements relevant to Canadian brokerage and wealth management (e.g., FINTRAC, IIROC/CSA expectations).
  • Experience using trade/order management and back-office systems (examples: Broadridge, FundSERV, CDS, Pershing, or similar legacy and modern OPS platforms).
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, basic macros) for reporting, data analysis and reconciliation.
  • Familiarity with ticketing and CRM systems used to log client queries and internal tasks (e.g., Salesforce, ServiceNow, internal ticketing tools).
  • Ability to perform data entry and maintain accurate electronic records in Account Opening systems and document management platforms.
  • Understanding of corporate actions processing, proxy events and entitlements across retail and institutional accounts.
  • Experience with payment processing, electronic funds transfers, wire settlement and bank reconciliation.
  • Exposure to internal controls, audit processes and preparation of documentation for regulatory reviews and internal audits.

Soft Skills

  • Strong attention to detail and accuracy under time pressure with an emphasis on error-free processing.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills to liaise clearly with advisors, custodians, counterparties and internal stakeholders.
  • Analytical mindset and problem-solving ability to investigate breaks, identify root causes and implement corrective actions.
  • Time management and prioritization skills to handle competing deadlines, large volumes and service-level expectations.
  • Team player with a collaborative approach, willingness to coach and be coached and to share operational best practices.
  • Client-focused orientation and professional demeanor when handling escalations and sensitive account matters.
  • Adaptability and resilience in a dynamic, regulated environment subject to process change and periodic peaks.
  • Strong organizational skills and the ability to document processes clearly for auditability and knowledge transfer.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • College diploma or university degree in Business, Finance, Accounting, Economics, or related field.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Finance, Commerce, Business Administration or equivalent.
  • Certifications or coursework in securities operations, compliance or financial services (e.g., CSC/Canadian Securities Course, Operations certification).

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Finance
  • Business Administration
  • Accounting
  • Economics
  • Financial Services / Banking

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 1–4 years in securities operations, trade support, back-office processing or transfer agency.

Preferred:

  • 2+ years of experience specifically in retail brokerage or wealth management operations (mutual funds, registered plans, trade settlement).
  • Prior exposure to Canadian market infrastructure (FundSERV, CDS, custodial platforms) and familiarity with regulatory requirements (KYC, AML).
  • Demonstrated track record of meeting SLAs, improving STP rates and reducing operational risk.
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