Capital Markets Back-Office Certification (CAMBOC)

Capital markets back-office functions are essential to the integrity and efficiency of financial markets, ensuring the seamless processing of securities transactions across increasingly sophisticated market infrastructures. As operational complexity grows and resilience becomes a strategic priority, developing a solid understanding of post-trade operations is key to supporting the stability and performance of financial institutions.

CAMBOC is a comprehensive certifying programme that covers many aspects of securities back-office operations. The main objective of CAMBOC is to provide participants with a good understanding of the diverse activities that are carried out in a securities back-office, including settlement in the primary and secondary markets, custody for debt instruments and equities, securities financing, collateral management, tax processing and international payments. The programme also includes a section on managing operational risk in the back office.

The blended methodology used in CAMBOC is based on an optimal combination of theory and practice. Theoretical aspects are based on the latest market standards, while examples, case studies and exercises are used to present and reinforce the practical application of the material. Before the instructor-led part of CAMBOC, participants will take an E-Learning course on international financial markets as a pre-requesite to the certifying training programme.

The programme covers the following topics :

• Definitions
• ISO standards, codes
• Classification scheme for financial instruments (ISO 10962: 2015)
• Players in financial markets
• SWIFT as a back-office standard
• Financial markets
  • Primary market
  • Secondary market
  • Overview of the transaction chain of securities processing
  • Front office (Pre-trade, trading)
  • Middle office (Functions, importance)
  • Back office (Operations, matching...)
• Clearing
  • Gross
  • Net
  • Central counterparties
• Settlement
  • Criteria
  • Instrument types
  • Payment methods
  • Currency, multi-currency
  • Settlement cycle
  • CSDs vs. ICSDs
  • Settlement models
  • Role of central banks in settlement
  • Target 2 Securities
• Custody for equities
  • Corporate actions
  • Classification
  • Events review
  • Legal/regulatory issues regarding equities
• Custody for debt instruments
  • Corporate actions
  • Classification
  • Events review (interests, redemptions...)
• Tax processing for securities
  • Withholding tax
  • Capital gains tax
  • Other types of taxes
  • Tax reclaim
• Custodian fees
  • Transaction fees
  • Custody fees
  • Other types of fees
• Treasury and Cash Management
  • Placements, borrowing 
  • Foreign exchange
  • Hedging, derivatives
  • Reconciliation
  • Cash correspondents
  • Payments
  • Payment systems
  • Market practice
• Securities financing
  • Securities lending and borrowing
  • Repurchase agreements ("Repos")
  • Sell/buybacks
  • Collateral management
  • Uses of collateral
  • Managing different types of collateral
  • Haircuts and margins
  • Marking to market
  • Legal/regulatory issues
• Fund custody
  • Functions of a fund custodian/depositary
  • Responsibilities of a fund custodian/depositary
  • Variations for standard ("UCITS") and alternative funds
• Managing risk in the Back-Office
  • Types of risk in financial services
  • Basics of risk management
  • Risk in the back-office
  • Counterparty/settlement risk
  • Operational risk
  • Processes
  • People
  • Systems
  • External events
• Regulatory issues in the Back-Office
  • International standards
  • European regulations
  • Prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing in the back-office
• Technology in the Back-Office
• Case studies and group projects and simulations
• Review and exam

The level of this course is intermediate to high. It focuses on improving the efficiency of middle and back-office staff in banks and other financial institutions by covering different aspects of securities and cash operations in detail. Participants should have a minimum of 3 years' experience in back-office operations or a similar area in financial services.

The training will be held in French with a training material and exam in English.

The knowledge acquired in the seminar will be validated through a written examination. Participants who pass the exam will receive a certificate issued by the House of Training. The passing score is set at 60%.