Forge Trust: Your Preferred Partner for Alternative Investing and Asset Security

For more than 40 years, Forge Trust has specialized in providing custodianship and administrative services tailored to the needs of institutional investors, financial advisors, and investment issuers. With $16 billion in assets under custody and 2.3 million accounts, we have a proven track record of navigating complex account rules, regulations, and investment requirements.

As part of Forge Global, a leader in private markets, we leverage decades of experience to help institutional investors and advisors meet their clients’ investment needs.

For institutional investors seeking custodial services for alternative assets, we specialize in three areas:

• Self-directed IRAs
• Private fund custody
• Safekeeping

Self-directed IRAs

A self-directed IRA is an individual retirement account that permits investments in both traditional assets like stocks, bonds, ETFs, and mutual funds, as well as alternative assets such as private companies, precious metals, real estate, and promissory notes. This flexibility provides investors with more possibilities with their investment strategies.

Many investors use self-directed IRAs to diversify their retirement portfolios and take advantage of the tax benefits offered by traditional, Roth, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs.

While some individual investors choose to open SDIRAs on their own, many others choose to work with an institutional advisor to provide investment advice. In both scenarios, self-directed IRAs, like other retirement accounts, require a custodian to open, hold, and administer the account. As a non-fiducial custodian, we do not provide investment advice or recommendations.

However, we understand the intricacies of alternative asset investing due to our extensive history with these asset classes.

Private Fund Custody

A fund custodian is a financial entity responsible for holding and safeguarding investments on behalf of investors. Additionally, custodians manage record-keeping and investor cash processing for the funds they serve.

In the event a qualified custodian is required, Forge Trust can fulfill that role. While investment funds are not always required to have institutional custody, there are several advantages to using one. Institutional investors may choose to work with a fund custodian to streamline tasks such as managing deposits, disbursements, and account activity. In turn, such a partnership shows a commitment to asset security and transparency, fostering trust among investors.

How it works: Fund managers send investment capital to the custodian, which holds the capital until directed to execute transactions or disbursements. When instructed, the custodian facilitates the movement of funds or assets, and processes investment transactions.

Additionally, custodians handle certain administrative duties, such as maintaining accurate records and providing statements.

Safekeeping

Forge Trust can serve as an extension of your back office by managing the entire safekeeping process for you and your investors. This includes key components related to the collection and storage of investor documents, such as:

• Tracking, receiving, verifying, and distributing investor documents
• Electronic imaging and storage of records
• Auditing documents while in transit
• Securely destroying documents when necessary

As a Qualified Custodian, we meet all regulatory obligations and your specific requirements, so you can focus on providing value to your customers and avoid needing to dedicate costly internal resources to these important tasks.

Dedicated service across all our offerings

Forge Trust is the right IRA custodian choice to handle your investments with diligence and care. We provide white glove service to institutions and their customers alike.

Reach out to us if you have any questions for our dedicated account service team or would like to start working with Forge Trust today.