The importance of client service

The concept of client service is as important in the settlement and support areas as it is in the front end of the business. Top-quality research, advisory and execution services are quite separate from the quality of the settlement services offered by the broker.

No longer does a client have to suffer inferior or costly services from either the front or back office of their broker. Prime brokerage, centralized and global derivative clearing have enabled clients to pick and choose, selecting several brokers for their skill and performance in various services and separating the chosen suppliers of execution and settlement. Of course, sometimes, as in the case of prime brokerage, it may be the same broker providing both, but Operations must recognize that clients can and will change their counterparty if the service is not good enough. It should be remembered that the inhouse trading and dealing areas are as much clients as external counterparties.

We can see in Figure 5.1 that the client services team within operations is composed of two functions, client service (the day-today relationship) and relationship management. The relationship flow is obviously two-way and in addition the client services team will liaise with both compliance and risk management. This concept is explained as we explore the role in this chapter.

Figure 5.1: Relationship flow diagram

For Operations it is essential to recognize that clients are important, for the very existence of the Operations function is to service the trading and dealing.