Sub-custodian: Difference between revisions

Note though that being ''[[Delegation|delegated]]'' a custody function - where you agree to act as main custodian to a fund on behalf of the [[depositary]] whom the fund has appointed to carry out that function — quite common for AIFs, whose local depositary is obliged to be nominal custodian, but whose prime broker is usually very keen to have custody of fund assets  it has [[margin loan|lent against]], so it can [[rehypothecate]] them — is a different thing from the [[depositary]] (or, for that matter, the prime broker) appointing another entity as a [[sub-custodian]].

*A delegating [[depositary]] won't hold the assets ''at all'': it will pass that responsibility to the [[prime broker]], who will record the end client's interests in the custody assets directly in its books and records. It may have to report this all to the depositary, but the depositary will not carry record of the client’s assets in its own books and records.

*A [[subcustodian]] is an entity who stands behind the main custodian and holds the [[custodian]]'s client assets in a single [[omnibus]] account, in the [[custodian]]'s name but marked as "client assets" and therefore unavailable for the prime broker's creditors. A [[sub-custodian]] won’t know who the custodian's clients are, let alone which assets are attributable to which clients, much less have a contractual relationship with those clients, and won’t be in a position to [[rehypothecate]] any assets it holds.