Custodian

A custodian is a financial institution that holds securities and other assets on behalf of clients, providing safekeeping separate from whoever manages or advises on those assets. Custodians typically do not make investment decisions; they hold the assets and handle settlement, recordkeeping, and corporate actions like dividends.

The separation between custody and management is a deliberate safeguard: it means an investment advisor cannot simply take custody of a client's assets and disappear with them, since a separate, regulated custodian is the one actually holding the securities.