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In the past, this meant physically keeping certificates of stock and bond ownership for clients, but now these are stored electronically. Globally, the value of assets currently looked after by custodians reaches trillions of dollars.

Custodians also process and service financial products and portfolios on behalf of their clients. These services can range from the collection of income from a product like dividends or bond coupons or calculating the value of a fund held by the client.

Global custodians also provide securities lending. Often financial services companies borrow securities to guard against possible failed trades, fulfill their outstanding settlements obligations or simply use as collateral for other investments. In these cases, the custodian will act as the agent, matching clients to suitable borrowers and overseeing any transactions. They make money in these situations by charging a fee for their services.

Another important function for most large custodians is prime services. This includes capital introduction, which is trying to introduce funds to those who could invest in them, business consulting and providing education and training, among other services.

Fund accounting and fund administration are the most common global custody jobs. These are most often found in important centers of global custody like Luxembourg and Ireland.

These jobs involve running the books of the funds, checking that income accruals are validated and approved. Judging a fund's assets against its liabilities is called working out its Net Asset Valuation, a valuable skill in fund accounting.

There are many other functions within global custody careers related to post trade activity - tasks which arise after the trade has completed. These include settlements - ensuring the safe and quick delivery of securities to the buyer and payment to the seller; reconciliations - looking for errors or exceptions to trades to check that the securities purchased match the client's accounts; and corporate actions - making sure dividends and coupons are delivered on time.

Firms also offer sales jobs to bring in new business. These positions are a mix of sales and marketing. Job titles may include business development, client relationship management or simply sales manager.

Many global custody firms also rely on technology. They spend large amounts of money on systems to assist straight-through processing, where the whole transaction is conducted electronically without the need for re-keying or human intervention. Some of the simpler NAV calculations can also be automated. Many global custody firms hire a number of IT professionals to cover these needs.