A career guide to Middle Office/Trade Support
Estimated Read Time: 3 minutes
If you are looking for a challenging and rewarding position in Singapore’s financial sector, a career in Middle Office/Trade Support could be the ideal fit for you.
Working under the guidance of your manager, the focus of your role is to support the Front Office staff in a variety of ways, from processing transactions and IT to risk management and legal support.
To help you to discover if a Middle Office/Trade Support role matches your skills, qualifications and interests, we’ve put together a guide for jobseekers in Singapore explaining what is involved, the types of positions available and the essential requirements for success.
What is Middle Office/Trade Support?
Traditionally in financial services institutions, including hedge funds and banks, the company structure was set up with a front office (customer facing roles) and back office (administrative support).
However, with financial transactions growing in complexity over the years, it became necessary to create a Middle Office to perform essential functions that fell between the scope of the front and back.
So then, what is Middle Office Trade Support?
Personnel in these roles will generally report to a Senior Trader or Investment Manager. They are responsible for range of essential functions that are directly related to the Front Office, including checking that all deals negotiated are properly finalised and that they meet all the internal and external compliance requirements.
Middle Office and Trade Support personnel are also required to track profit and losses, deliver timely reports, and perform reconciliations, identify risks, and implement mitigation strategies, and communicate with managers and clients to ensure effective delivery of services.
In addition, they may also be required to look for new and innovative ways to improve procedures, track and respond to customer queries, provide basic trouble shooting when issues arise and escalate incidents promptly as needed.
Which job titles can come under this sub-sector?
The size of the organisation will impact the diversity of roles available.
For example, teams in smaller businesses often having a broader scope of tasks within their role, while larger organisations will have a bigger team within the finance or accounting department, with a more diverse range of specialised positions.
Some positions will be on a full-time basis, while others may be part-time or contract roles. You may also be required to work on site, remotely, or a combination of the two.
In a mid to large sized business, common roles in the Middle Office/Trade Support sub-sector may include a Business Analyst, Associate or Manager, Financial Controller, Treasury Specialist or Risk Reporting Specialist to name a few.
What type of qualifications, skills and experience do you need for success?
To succeed in a Trade Support or Middle Office position, a refined knowledge of the financial services industry is important.
You will also generally need a university qualification and several years of experience in a related role to be considered for an advertised position. Suitable degree qualifications include finance, economics, accounting, mathematics, business and computer science.
In addition to formal education and experience, there are certain soft skills that are a must for success. Due to the precise nature of the work, excellent attention to detail alongside strong written and verbal communication skills are required.
You will also need up-to-date knowledge and awareness of market and industry trends, be confident to work across multiple tasks and projects at any given time and be able to stick to tight deadlines to keep things moving.
A keen ability to build relationships, both internally with management and externally with clients, is also highly valued in these roles.
Take the first step to become a Middle Office/Trade Support professional today
If this sounds like a sub-sector you would like to pursue, our specialised financial services recruitment team in Singapore can speak to you further about current opportunities and your suitability for the role.
To find out how we can help make the job seeking process easy and connect you with the best employers in Singapore so you can find your dream role faster, get in touch with our team on +65 3158 0978 today.
