Custodian Account Opening Forms
Custodian account opening forms are the packets each custodian publishes to open and fund an account on its own platform. Schwab, Fidelity, Pershing, Altruist, and the rest ask for substantially the same client facts under different field names, in a different order, with different supplements attached. The packet goes to the custodian, which reviews it and opens the account.
- Who handles it
- Advisory operations assembles a packet per custodian and the custodian's new accounts team reviews it. A firm that custodies in more than one place maintains a separate packet, a separate set of supplements, and a separate set of quirks for each one.
- Filed through
- Custodian
- Applies to
- SEC-registered RIA, State-registered RIA, Broker-dealer, Dually registered
What the form asks for
- The custodian's own account application and client agreement
- Owner identity and registration, in that custodian's schema and field names
- Advisory fee authorization and the fee debit instruction
- Money movement instructions and standing letters of authorization
- Trading authority: discretion, limited power of attorney, advisor access
- Supplements by registration: trust certification, entity resolution, retirement
- Tax certification, and any medallion or notarization the custodian asks for
The work behind the filing
Map one client record onto every custodian's packet
A multi-custodian firm does the same onboarding three different ways because the forms differ, not because the work differs. The mapping between the client record and each custodian's fields is stable and knowable, which makes it a job for an agent rather than a job for whoever knows that platform best. Caddi can hold the mapping per custodian and produce the right packet for whichever one the account is going to.
Submit the version the custodian is currently accepting
Blank packets get saved to a shared drive, and then the custodian revises the form. The stale PDF keeps getting sent for months, and every rejection is investigated as if it were a new problem. Caddi can pull the current form at assembly time so the version question stops being something a person has to remember.
Reconcile what the custodian opened against what you asked for
The account exists, but is the registration what the packet requested, is the fee schedule attached, did discretion carry over, is the standing instruction on file. Nobody checks until something fails months later. Caddi can compare the opened account against the submitted packet and the CRM, and flag the differences while they are still cheap to fix.
Questions
What are custodian account opening forms?
They are the account application packets each custodian publishes for opening and funding an account on its platform, covering the client agreement, owner identity and registration, fee authorization, trading authority, money movement instructions, and the supplements a given registration requires.
Are custodian account opening forms regulatory filings?
No. They are submitted to the custodian, not to a regulator. What the firm keeps about the account afterward is a books and records matter, but the packet itself is a platform document.
Why is account opening paperwork different at every custodian?
Because each custodian designed its own forms around its own account systems, supplements, and signature conventions. The client facts underneath are nearly identical, so a firm running multiple custodians ends up maintaining several transcription workflows for one piece of information.
What causes a custodian to reject an account opening packet?
In practice: a missing signature or initial, a superseded version of the form, a registration that the attached documents do not support, an omitted supplement, or a field left blank that the platform treats as required. All of it is detectable before submission, which is why the rejection loop is a workflow problem rather than a compliance one.
Can Caddi handle this paperwork end to end?
Caddi runs the work around it: pulling the client facts out of your CRM, plan, and document systems, producing the populated form, checking it against the client record before it goes out, routing it for signature, and writing the result back into every system that holds the same fact. A person reviews and submits. Caddi is not a custodian or a broker-dealer and does not act as one.
Related forms
The filing is the easy part
Caddi does not file forms. It runs the work around them: pulling the underlying data out of your portfolio, CRM, and document systems, reconciling it against the prior filing, and evidencing delivery. See it run on your own stack.
See the compliance specialistThis page describes what the form is and the work it creates. For requirements, deadlines, and whether any of it applies to your firm, see SEC: Investment adviser regulation and examination resources.