A custodian is a financial institution that is specialized in safeguarding g the firms or an or the individuals financial assets and is not associated with any sort of commercial or traditional banking tasks like branch banking, personal accounts management or so on.
The role of a custodian bank is usually to hold the assets and securities of the individuals in assets like bonds or commodities which are traditionally considered to be very safe. This would also include having some sort of currency as well, either domestic or foreign. The role also includes collecting information form assets like dividends and coupons and also to administer tax withholding documents regards to the same. The custodian banks also perform additional services like the fun accounting for the mutual funds, administration and legal compliance issues including the tax support services for some specific clients. These banks also deal in performing the currency exchange transactions and maintaining the bank accounts related to currency as well as cash. They also provide useful information with regards to the annual general meetings of the companies along with other related proxies.
These banks can also be referred to as the global custodians if they ensure the safety of the assets of their clients through their own local branches on a global scale. These types of assets are usually owned by some of the biggest banks which have a considerable amount of investment portfolio in the form of insurance companies, mutual funds and also pension funds. The biggest custodian banks in the world today are the
a) The Bank of New York Mellon
b) JPMorgan Chase
c) State Street Bank and Trust Company
d) Citigroup
The custodian bank can also assist in the purchase and sale of the asset on behalf of the investor. This also includes making sure that that any of the assets and property those are purchased is properly received and also proper accounting is carried out on