Glossary

Every term between trade and settlement.

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.

CAT Reporting (Consolidated Audit Trail)

The obligation under FINRA Rule 6800 Series and SEC Rule 613 for broker-dealers to report every NMS and OTC equity order event to the CAT Central Repository by 8:00 AM ET on T+1, with customer account data updated daily through CAIS.

Central Counterparty Clearing (CCP)

Financial market infrastructure that legally interposes itself as the counterparty to every trade through novation, eliminates bilateral credit risk, and reduces settlement volume through multilateral netting.

Central Securities Depository (CSD)

The financial market infrastructure that holds securities in book-entry form and executes DvP settlement finality — the legal transfer of ownership that converts a CCP's netted instruction into a confirmed change in beneficial ownership.

Corporate Action Processing

Corporate action processing is the operational workflow that captures issuer events, calculates per-account entitlements, and reconciles cash and position changes against custodian records.

Counterparty Risk Management

The identification and control of risk that a counterparty fails to settle a trade, exposing the surviving party to replacement cost or principal loss.

Custody Reconciliation

The daily comparison of a firm's internal position records against the custodian's statement of holdings, identifying breaks for investigation and regulatory documentation.