North Capital Investment Technology, Inc., a financial technology company providing solutions for private securities issuers, intermediaries, and investors, announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, North Capital Trust Company, has been granted a Charter and Certificate of Authority by the South Dakota Division of Banking to operate as a Public Trust Company.
“We are excited to receive our Public Trust Company charter, which positions us to better serve our custody clients and expand our scope of services beyond private securities,” said Grant Nelson, Managing Director and Head of Custody and Brokerage at North Capital. “We look forward to commencing Trust Company operations over the next few months.”
Trust companies have become a preferred vehicle for supporting the custody of tangible and digital assets, including tokenized securities. North Capital has been expanding its digital asset securities activities, launching North Capital Token Services, LLC earlier this year.
“We began to explore the feasibility of forming a trust company about six years ago, when the Securities and Exchange Commission and FINRA issued the Joint Staff Statement on Broker-Dealer Custody of Digital Asset Securities,” said James P. Dowd, CEO of North Capital. Under that Joint Statement, which was withdrawn by the SEC and FINRA last year, clearing and carrying broker-dealers were practically prohibited from serving as custodians for digital asset securities. North Capital’s custodial broker-dealer, North Capital Private Securities Corporation, had received approval as a clearing and carrying firm in 2016, making the Joint Statement a setback for the firm’s digital strategy.
Investors and registered intermediaries rely on qualified custodians to meet statutory requirements for registered investment advisors, registered funds, and qualified accounts such as IRAs, Roth IRAs, HSAs, and 401k Plans. “Although broker-dealers are no longer precluded from holding digital asset securities on behalf of their customers, we believe that North Capital Trust Company will provide flexibility to more fully meet the evolving needs of our customers in a rapidly changing market environment,” said Dowd.
The trust company charter positions North Capital to offer custody services for both traditional and digital assets, addressing regulatory challenges that previously limited broker-dealer involvement in digital asset custody. This development is significant as it provides a regulatory-compliant pathway for institutional-grade custody solutions in the growing digital asset space.
For more information about North Capital, visit https://www.northcapital.com.
North Capital Investment Technology, Inc. is a financial technology company providing technology solutions for issuers, professional intermediaries, and investors in the exempt securities market. Through separate affiliated entities, North Capital offers brokerage, trust/custody, and related services, each subject to applicable law, approvals, documentation, and regulatory requirements.
