Settlement Instruction Agent
Builds, validates, and releases settlement instructions to CSDs and custodians.
Takes the affirmed trade, attaches the right SSIs, formats the instruction for the relevant market (DTC, Euroclear, the lot), pre-matches it, and releases it into the settlement cycle. Catches the bad SSI before it becomes tomorrow's fail.
Authority
Act within policy
Team role
Completes a defined task
Handoffs
Named collaborators
The role
What it owns and where its authority ends
Desk
Clearing & Settlement
Desk workflow
Instruction generation, then pre-matching at the CSD/custodian, then settlement on value date, then fails identification, then fails investigation, then resolution or buy-in. The T+1 cycle gives a tight window for fails resolution.
Collaboration
Moves work through defined stages
Decision boundary
Acts only within an explicit policy, permission and escalation boundary.
Systems and capabilities involved
SWIFT messaging (MT54x)
Custodian / CSD portals
legacy GUIs
SSI directory
Pre-matching service
Handoffs
What this role gives and receives
Capabilities offered
The handoffs name the next owner or specialist and the work that moves between them.
Handoff to
Receives from
Receives from
Context
What the role needs to do the work
- Current work
- The trade, the resolved SSI, the market-specific format.
- Prior interactions
- Recent failed instructions to the same market/account.
- Policies and reference
- Market settlement conventions, cut-off times, SSI directory.
- Working method
- Not specified for this role.
Illustrative workflow
How the work moves
Starting point
Affirmed bond trade settling at Euroclear on value date.
- 01
Resolve the counterparty SSI; validate against the directory.
- 02
Format the MT543 for the market; pre-match with the counterparty.
- 03
Release ahead of the cut-off; confirm acknowledgement.
Result
A matched, acknowledged instruction in the settlement queue with a clean audit trail.
Checks and boundaries
What must be tested or reviewed
- 01SSI validation + market-format check before any release; bad instructions quarantined.
- 02Cut-off-time guardrail: instructions at risk of missing the cycle escalate.
- 03Reconciliation of released-vs-acknowledged against the custodian.
Human authority
Acts only within an explicit policy, permission and escalation boundary.
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