The purpose of the Settlement Management System (SEMA) is to support the user operations in full circle of the Settlement Process, to automate the matching process between counterparts of the settlement and maintain the electronic document exchange in the Settlement Circle. SEMA can receive documents in both electronic and paper (fax, text document) formats and provides identification of the incoming documents and their linkage to transaction/trade records in the database. Non-electronic documents are converted to electronic format and stored in the database for processing. SEMA provides a unified secure information gateway for interacting investors, banks, brokers, custodians and other parties involved in the document exchange.