Adviser — Collateral Management Governance

The enquiry path

Trace goods from acceptance into storage through inspection, reporting and release. Identify who controls physical access, records and instructions at each stage. Review subcontractor arrangements, conflicts and exceptions that weaken independence or create ambiguity about responsibility.

Recommendations to deliver

Define clear control ownership and escalation for stock discrepancies, disputed instructions or missing evidence. Recommend independent verification, segregation of duties and reporting that states limitations honestly. Review contractual and insurance assumptions with relevant specialists instead of treating them as substitutes for operational control.

The control design should address the possibility that records and physical access are influenced by the same interested party. Recommend verification routes that do not merely repeat information from a common source. Where several parties can issue instructions, specify how conflicts are resolved and when release must pause pending clarification. Reporting should identify limitations such as restricted access or unverified areas explicitly. The adviser should ensure that users of the service understand what has been checked, what has not and what assumptions remain necessary.

Qualified candidates

Candidates should have hands-on collateral-management, warehousing assurance or commodity-finance control experience. They need to understand inventory practices, document integrity and the incentives that can undermine controls. Experience investigating a control breakdown is especially relevant.

How the work should be tested

Use anonymised scenarios involving conflicting release instructions, an inaccessible storage area and a mismatch between records and observed stock. The deliverable should show who acts, what is documented and when exposure is escalated. The adviser recommends a governance design; they do not certify stock existence or provide an implied legal opinion on title.