Brokerage Clerks

The work of brokerage clerks is to provide administrative support for security establishments. Brokerage clerks perform the work in discount brokerage firms, securities firms, saving associations, and commercial banks. These clerks perform a variety of tasks with a spectrum of responsibilities. Some clerks involve recording and computing data concerning to securities transactions.

Job Prospect
Brokerage clerks have to interact with customers, accept orders, and inform clients of changes to their accounts. Brokerage clerks execute their tasks in the operations departments of securities firms. The advanced technology has brought significant changes in this field. An increasing number of brokerage clerks use custom-designed software programs in order to process transactions more quickly.

An assistance of a broker is called sales assistant. Sales assistance is more common type of brokerage clerk. Generally, brokerage clerks facilitate a small number of brokers. They take clients' calls from these brokers, record a client's purchase and sale, process the paperwork for closing and opening accounts, and write up order tickets.

A broker's assistant has to be knowledgeable about investment products. They ought to interact with customers clearly and effectively. Brokerage clerks who are licensed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) can make recommendations to clients at the instruction of the broker.

In the operations areas of securities firms, a brokerage clerk has to perform a variety of duties to help the purchase and sale of bonds, commodities, stocks, and other kinds of investments. Their work is to produce the necessary records of all transactions that come in their business area. Sale and purchase clerks match orders to buy with orders to sell. They verify and balance trades of stock by means of comparing the records of the selling firm with buying firms.

Dividend clerks make sure timely payments of stock or cash dividends to clients of certain firms. The work of transfer clerks is to perform customer requests for changes to security registration. Transfer clerks evaluate stock certificates to ensure that they stick to banking regulations.

Deliver and receive clerks deal with the delivery and receipt of securities among institutions and firms. Margin clerks monitor and records activity in customer's accounts to make sure that clients make payments and follow rules and regulations regarding their purchases of stock.

Work Environment
Brokerage clerks work on trading floors and in offices that are clean and spacious but noisy at times. Generally, the workload is manageable but can become heavy when the market changes rapidly. Brokerage clerks, usually, work forty hours a week. However, they may work overtime during busy periods.

Educational Qualification
Some brokerage clerks acquire job skills through on-the-job training. They are guided by experienced workers. Candidates who wish to get into this field require a high school diploma. However, candidates who have completed graduation are preferred. Brokerage clerks have carry out following responsibilities.

Responsibilities

• Document and record security transactions such as sales, purchases, conversions, payments, and redemption using accounting ledgers, computers, and certificate records
• Produce reports summarizing daily earnings and transactions for individual customer accounts
• Calculate dividends, total holdings, interest, brokerage fees, transfer taxes, commissions, and distribute appropriate payments to customers
• Prepare forms such as withdrawal orders, receipts, transmittal papers, transfer confirmations from stockholders' transaction requests
• Confer with coworkers and correspond with customers so as to answer inquiries, resolve account problems, and discuss market fluctuations
• Coordinate and schedule delivery and transfer of security certificates between departments, companies, and customers
• Examine daily stock prices and calculate fluctuations to determine the need for supplementary collateral to secure loans
• Verify transaction and ownership information and dividend allocation instructions to ensure conformance with laws and regulations by government using stock reports and records
• Type, file and operate standard office machines

Licensure
Most of the brokerage clerk positions, licenses are not firmly required. However, a series seven brokerage license can make a clerk more valuable to the broker. This license equips the holder with the ability to perform as a registered representative of the firm. A registered representative has the right to answer client's questions and pass securities recommendations from the broker.

Clerks who wish to receive this license must have passed General Securities Registered Representative Examination conducted by FINRA and have at least four years experience in a registered firm. Candidates who wish to get into this field require good communication and organizational skills. The knowledge of computer is mandatory as most of the work is performed using computers.

Clerks can be promoted to sales representative positions or other professional positions. Employment in this field is expected to grow by twenty percent during the 2006 to 2016 decade. The investment in securities is increasing as a result brokerage clerks shall be required to process larger volumes of transactions.