mediumScenarioConceptMidSeniorStaff
A client says your position does not match their custodian statement. How do you work out who is right, and what does a corporate action do to that answer?
5 min readUpdated 2026-08-15
Answer
Short answer
A position is what you have traded, a holding is what the custodian says you own, and they legitimately differ by unsettled trades and pending entitlements. Reconciliation compares both against the custodian's statements, and corporate actions break it when an election deadline is missed.
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Likely follow-ups
- How do you reconcile a position that is partly out on loan and partly pledged as collateral?
- What is a market claim, and why does it exist between trade date and settlement date?
- Why do fractional entitlements from a share split cause more downstream breaks than the split itself?
- How would you design the audit trail for a voluntary election so a client dispute can be settled from your records?
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