Corporate Actions, Associate

About this role

Team Overview 

BlackRock's Global Corporate Actions team has primary operating centers in Edinburgh (UK), Wilmington, Delaware (US), Gurgaon (India), and Singapore. The team's objective is to manage and provide a high-quality Corporate Action service following our best practice standards by applying governance and controls to mitigate risk to the firm and our clients. The team operates as a single, global entity designed around a robust and mature "pass-the-book" philosophy allowing the effective and controlled transition of work across our primary locations. 

Job Purpose/Background: 

This is a role based in our Wilmington location. The role will be multi-functional commensurate with our primary objectives to ensure all COAC event-related activity is captured, validated, elected (voluntaries) and any subsequent entitlements are accurately processed and reconciled. In addition, responsibilities will extend to managing asset restrictions throughout the event life cycle and liaison with BlackRock's global custodians and counterparties. 

Key Responsibilities: 

• Ensure all corporate action events are captured and validated through the creation of a gold copy announcement. 

• Interact with Portfolio Management to ensure all necessary elections are received and processed. 

• Ensure corporate action instructions are issued to and acknowledged by custodians and counterparties. 

• Daily ensure that all global COAC events are accurately processed in BlackRock's Aladdin system and reconciled with our custodians' records. 

• Investigate reconciliation discrepancies daily, ensuring all issues are promptly resolved and cleared. 

• Ensure the appropriate restriction status of entitlements is maintained in BlackRock applications throughout the entire COAC lifecycle. 

• Manage any queries received from various internal and external parties. 

• Interact with other BlackRock teams and the third parties/custodians to resolve issues. 

• Raise all risk items and service issues to your lead or manager on a timely basis. 

• Participate in local, regional, and global initiatives to drive industry-leading technology changes to the BlackRock Aladdin platform. 

Knowledge/Experience: 

• You should possess a minimum of 3 years of experience in a Corporate Action operations role and have a strong understanding of investment or brokerage operations. 

• You should be able to demonstrate participation in change management through project work or driving other process efficiencies. 

• A good understanding of stock lending and settlement impacts on corporate action elections and allocations is a must. 

• This role serves as a corporate action expert for less experienced staff. The candidate is expected to have an advanced understanding of all corporate action procedures, events, and market practices. 

Skills/Qualifications: 

• Strong analytical skills with an ability to identify problems and develop solutions. 

• Acute attention to detail and understanding of the impacts to downstream processes. 

• Possess a good understanding of the risks inherent in the processing of g