custodian
Karl Montevirgen is a professional freelance writer who specializes in the fields of finance, cryptomarkets, content strategy, and the arts. Karl works with several organizations in the equities, futures, physical metals, and blockchain industries. He holds FINRA Series 3 and Series 34 licenses in addition to a dual MFA in critical studies/writing and music composition from the California Institute of the Arts.
Doug is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst who spent more than 20 years as a derivatives market maker and asset manager before “reincarnating” as a financial media professional a decade ago.
Before joining Britannica, Doug spent nearly six years managing content marketing projects for a dozen clients, including The Ticker Tape, TD Ameritrade’s market news and financial education site for retail investors. He has been a CAIA charter holder since 2006, and also held a Series 3 license during his years as a derivatives specialist.
Doug previously served as Regional Director for the Chicago region of PRMIA, the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association, and he also served as editor of Intelligent Risk, PRMIA’s quarterly member newsletter. He holds a BS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from Illinois Institute of Technology, Stuart School of Business.
A custodian is an entity responsible for holding and safeguarding customers’ financial assets. Depending on the custodian, the assets to be held may comprise a wide and diverse range, from stocks and bonds to real estate, precious metals, and cryptocurrency. In addition to safeguarding customers’ funds from theft or loss, custodians also play an important role in record-keeping and reporting, trade settlement, various asset-servicing functions, and other value-added services. Custodians vary depending on the type of asset being held. They can include banks, wealth managers, trust companies, and those that specialize in one specific asset class, such as precious metals, digital assets, or foreign holdings.