Associate, FX Settlements

SMBC Group is a top-tier global financial group. Headquartered in Tokyo and with a 400-year history, SMBC Group offers a diverse range of financial services, including banking, leasing, securities, credit cards, and consumer finance. The Group has more than 130 offices and 80,000 employees worldwide in nearly 40 countries. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) is the holding company of SMBC Group, which is one of the three largest banking groups in Japan. SMFG’s shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York (NYSE: SMFG) stock exchanges.

In the Americas, SMBC Group has a presence in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. Backed by the capital strength of SMBC Group and the value of its relationships in Asia, the Group offers a range of commercial and investment banking services to its corporate, institutional, and municipal clients. It connects a diverse client base to local markets and the organization’s extensive global network. The Group’s operating companies in the Americas include Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC), SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc., SMBC Capital Markets, Inc., SMBC MANUBANK, JRI America, Inc., SMBC Leasing and Finance, Inc., Banco Sumitomo Mitsui Brasileiro S.A., and Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Co., Ltd.

The anticipated salary range for this role is between $78,000.00 and $125,000.00. The specific salary offered to an applicant will be based on their individual qualifications, experiences, and an analysis of the current compensation paid in their geography and the market for similar roles at the time of hire. The role may also be eligible for an annual discretionary incentive award. In addition to cash compensation, SMBC offers a competitive portfolio of benefits to its employees.

Role Description

Summary Own the end-to-end settlement, payment processing, exception management, and reconciliation of Foreign Exchange transactions, with a primary focus on Spot FX, FX Forwards, FX Swaps, NDFs, NDS, and related cash movements. In this role, you’ll sit at the center of the Derivative Operations team, ensuring trades, settlement instructions, payments, confirmations, and cash breaks are processed accurately, on time, and in line with internal controls, market deadlines, regulatory expectations, and counterparty requirements.

What You’ll Do

• Validate, process, and settle Foreign Exchange transactions, including Spot FX, FX Forwards, FX Swaps, NDFs, NDS, and related FX cash flows.
• Manage daily settlement activities, including payment release, receipt monitoring, netting, CLS-eligible settlement, non-CLS payments, maturities, and value date processing.
• Monitor trade bookings, confirmations, settlement queues, payment queues, and exception reports; investigate discrepancies and drive timely break resolution through to closure.
• Reconcile FX activity and related cash movements across internal systems, correspondent banks, custodians, brokers, clearing utilities, and counterparties to ensure books and records remain accurate.
• Partner closely with Front Office, Middle Office, Treasury, Finance, Technology, Compliance, and external counterparties to resolve failed settlements, reduce recurring breaks, and support smooth trade lifecycle management.
• Maintain accurate transaction records and support audit, regulatory, controls testing, and management reporting requirements related to FX settlements and payment processing.
• Monitor CLS and non-CLS settlement activity, investigate unmatched trades or payment issues, and coordinate timely resolution before market and currency cut-off deadlines.
• Produce daily and weekly reporting for management and stakeholders, including clear commentary on failed settlements, aged breaks, high-risk exposures, and delayed payments.
• Investigate settlement fails, including fail-to-receive and fail-to-pay items, payment rejections, cash breaks, and claims, and provide Front Office partners with comprehensive analysis to support decision-making.
• Escalate disputed claims, high-risk exposures, unresolved settlement issues, and potential payment delays to the Front Office and Operations management for further review and appropriate next steps.
• Identify opportunities to improve FX settlement workflows, strengthen operational controls, reduce manual intervention, enhance straight-through processing, and support scalability across systems and processes.

Qualifications And Skills

• Experience in Foreign Exchange operations, settlements, trade support, treasury operations, or middle office functions, preferably within an investment bank, broker-dealer, asset manager, or financial institution.
• Strong understanding of the FX trade lifecycle, including trade capture, confirmations, settlements, payment processing, netting, value dates, maturities, amendments, and cancellations.
• Familiarity with industry utilities, messaging, and platforms such as SWIFT, CLS, Bloomberg, FXall, 360T, Alert, Misys/Finastra, Murex, and correspondent banking systems.
• Strong control mindset with the ability to identify settlement risk, escalate issues appropriately, and follow through on exception resolution.
• Detail-oriented and deadline-driven, with the ability to manage high-volume settlement activity, currency cut-offs, and competing priorities in a fast-paced trading environment.
• Analytical, proactive problem-solver with strong communication skills across Operations, Front Office, Middle Office, Treasury, Technology, and external counterparties.
• Proficiency in Excel and comfort working across financial systems, reconciliation tools, payment platforms, and reporting applications.
• Curiosity to expand your knowledge across multiple asset classes.

SMBC’s employees participate in a Hybrid workforce model that provides employees with an opportunity to work from home, as well as, from an SMBC office. SMBC requires that employees live within a reasonable commuting distance of their office location. Prospective candidates will learn more about their specific hybrid work schedule during their interview process. Hybrid work may not be permitted for certain roles, including, for example, certain FINRA-registered roles for which in-office attendance for the entire workweek is required.

SMBC provides reasonable accommodations during candidacy for applicants with disabilities consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law. If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application process, please let us know at [email protected].