Glossary

Every term between trade and settlement.

Account Segregation

The requirement that broker-dealers keep client funds and securities strictly separate from firm assets under Rule 15c3-3 — enforced through the reserve formula, the Special Reserve Bank Account, and good control location requirements.

Accounting Book of Record

The ABOR: custodian-confirmed settled positions used as the authoritative basis for NAV calculation, financial statements, and regulatory reporting.

AML Transaction Monitoring

Monitoring systems and procedures used by broker-dealers to detect suspicious activity under the Bank Secrecy Act and FINRA Rule 3310, with SAR filing to FinCEN as the required reporting output.

Arc Network

Circle institutional Layer-1 for stablecoin finance, featuring deterministic finality. It uses USDC as native gas and supports atomic PvP settlement to eliminate Herstatt risk in global FX operations.

Broker-Dealer Audit Trail

The immutable, chronologically linked record of every trade lifecycle event — from order receipt through settlement — maintained to satisfy SEC Rules 17a-3 and 17a-4, FINRA clock synchronization requirements, and CAT reporting obligations.

Broker-Dealer Compliance Technology

The software layer that enables broker-dealers to meet SEC and FINRA regulatory obligations — books and records, net capital, supervisory controls, and audit trail — through automation rather than manual processes.

Broker-Dealer Net Capital Rule

The SEC rule requiring broker-dealers to maintain minimum liquid net capital at all times, calculated under either the Basic Method or the Alternative Method, to support orderly operations and customer protection.

Buy-Side Post-Trade Operations

The buy-side workflow that transforms block trade executions into settled, reconciled account positions — covering allocation, affirmation, multi-custodian reconciliation, and IBOR shadow accounting under T+1 compression.

Cash Reconciliation Software

Software that matches a broker-dealer's internal cash ledger against bank statements and clearing utility records in real time, surfacing breaks for resolution before they create reserve formula errors, missed sweeps, or Rule 15c3-3 violations.