Loan Services Associate - Trade Operations

Position Summary

Guggenheim Investments is seeking an Associate to join the Loan Services team. This individual will report to the Director of Loan Services and assist trade operations and funding teams, including but not limited to data analysis, coordination of direct and secondary loan settlements and borrowings, restructure processing, and monthly metrics. The position requires close interaction with various parties across the firm including traders, credit analysts, and legal team members. This role will involve working in a dynamic team environment and presents opportunities to utilize interpretation and problem-solving skills in support of the team’s Integrity objectives and initiatives. The ideal candidate will possess a deep understanding of bank debt and fixed income securities. The Associate role presents an opportunity to join a team that sits at the ‘hub’ of Guggenheim Investments at an exciting time of growth and evolution at all levels of the company.

This position is located in the New York Office, full-time.

Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

• Process bank loan-related transactions in the portfolio management and related systems including transfers, CLO & middle market closings, crosses, CTP and terminations
• Process non-loan bookings in Wall Street Office
• Book all trade amendments and reallocations for Bank Loan trades
• Perform daily confirmation of Bank Loan trades in Aladdin allowing for flow via interface
• Reconcile trades between BRS and WSO. Details of loan trades are compared against systems to ensure booking accuracy and the details of bond, repo and FX trades are compared for CLO and Private Funds
• Monitor and resolve trade-related cash/position breaks on dashboard
• Act as the operations contact with various third parties including custodian banks, trustees, fund administrators, and administrative agent banks to answer or direct various inquiries; Team is responsible for answering and addressing all inquiries which may range from trade & position questions to providing documentation
• Assist with requests related to fund audits and various business initiatives
• Communicate non-CIDD bank loan trade & ABS term loan settlements to custodian banks; handholding of direct settlements ensuring timely funding & accurate reflection in systems
• Work closely with internal and external parties on borrowing requests; processing in BRS and ensuring timely funding
• Wire input into portals for specific fundings sometimes inclusive of GCS
• Provide fund admins with settlement packages and additional documentation & information such as Credit agreements etc.
• Track loan amendments and process restructures in systems communicating to both internal and external stakeholders
• Update and reconcile prices between systems backfilling missing marks, mapping revolver and delayed draws in WSO to ensure accurate reporting for teams including Private Funds & CLO as well as Fund Accounting
• Assist in the development and documentation of procedures and controls to increase the efficiency and productivity of the department
• Populate/refresh trades in BRS for analytics data
• Compile trading metrics for circulation to business and upper management
• Team is responsible for ensuring all trades are booked, allocated, reviewed for accuracy, executed and checked off for closing in ClearPar in a timely manner.
• Review and understand LSTA standard documents and other legal documents including Trade Confirms, Assignment Agreements, Proceeds letters, Participation agreements, Cash collateral agreements and Multilateral Agreements and Credit Agreements, specifically assign-ability language
• Provides KYC packages and fields any questions for any new accounts or as requested by counterparties which may require further guidance/assistance from Compliance or Tax team.
• Maintains close interaction with various parties such as agent banks, counterparties, PMs, traders, analysts, legal and compliance to ensure timely settlement occurs (primary, secondary as well as distressed loan trades)
• Maintains accuracy of trade details through ClearPar and WSO to ensure any issues are resolved prior to settlement. identify and escalate issues to the front office, bank loan trading assistants/traders, in-house legal counsel and management, when necessary and track and report these issues through appropriate workflow tools
• Manage loan amendment workflow, to include tracking, submission and ensure votes are executed in a timely and accurate manner
• Ability to manage heavy trade portfolio, for assigned client base, while maintaining a clean aging profile, with the goal of settlement within the LSTA standard for settlement time
• Manage liquidity for various accounts through correspondence with the PMs. Settlements team will notify PMs as cash needs arise. For FX trades, desk needs to be notified at least 2 days prior to ensure funds are available for settlement. In rare instances, 2 days cannot be guaranteed due to the Agent executing late but will notify the FX desk as soon we’re aware of settlement. Any cash breaks, settlements is responsible for following up with the custodians to ensure all trades are funded
• Ensure all trade fees are booked into WSO and tied to ClearPar invoices. Invoices are submitted to the custodian for payments and followed up regularly to ensure all invoices are paid in a timely manner
• Drafting manual documents (trade confirms, assignment agreement & funding memos for any trades not booked on ClearPar.
• Direct Trades – settlements works alongside legal/origination team to facilitate funding for closing. Once a funding date is determined, funding memos will be manually drafted (in some instances, the counterparty will draft the funding memos), reviewed, signed and submitted to the custodians for payment to ensure funds are received in a timely manner
• Create, understand and present metrics reporting for trading, portfolio management and operations
• Prepare monthly/weekly reporting to senior management for open trades and trading metrics
• Process large-scale loan assignments related to special projects including CLO warehousing and closing, cross-trades and client-directed transfers

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree with 2+ years of relevant work experience in investment management or financial services environment
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office Suite, specifically Excel
• Must be able to multi-task in a fast paced and challenging environment

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with 2+ years of relevant work experience
• At least 2+ years of bank loan related experience is required
• Knowledge of Wall Street Office and Bloomberg a plus
• Organized, detail oriented and extremely thorough with strong problem-solving skills and demonstrated ability to take initiative
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with an ability to collaborate with internal teams and external clients and service providers

We are not seeking agency assistance with this role.

We are unable to consider candidates who require current or future visa sponsorship for employment in the United States.  Candidates must be authorized to work in the US without current or future visa sponsorship or transfer.

The benefits offered for this position:

• 401k with matching contribution
• Healthcare and wellbeing programs
• Paid leave
• Learning and development opportunities
• Family and caregiving support
• Employee assistance program

Salary Range

Annual base salary between

$95,000.00-$105,000.00

The base salary range represents the low and high end of the anticipated base salary range for this position. Actual base salaries may vary depending on factors such as location and experience. The range listed reflects base salary only, and the total compensation package may include other components such as incentive compensation.