Asset Protection

BNY Mellon’s Pershing has been a leading global provider of financial business solutions for more than 80 years and serves many of the world's most respected financial organizations. Pershing Advisor Solutions is a division of BNY Mellon, one of the oldest and largest banks in the world, founded in 1794 and located at One Wall Street, New York, New York.

Pershing forms the foundation of many of our client's accounts. They are our primary custodian, ensuring the safekeeping, servicing, segregation and data security of our clients' assets. 

Pershing’s core financial strength provides the first measure of protection for our global client assets. While financial strength does not protect against loss due to market fluctuation, their internal controls and regulatory oversight help maintain their stability and focus.

Pershing protects client assets through rigorous internal control measures. An annual audit by a major independent audit firm and the audit team at our parent company, BNY Mellon, helps to monitor controls that are in place. In addition, a Service Organizations Control report conducted by an independent audit firm provides additional evaluation of the design and operating effectiveness of Pershing’s internal controls.

Clients’ fully paid-for assets are segregated from our own, with quarterly vault inspections conducted. In addition, we segregate cash and/or qualifying securities in special reserve bank accounts for the exclusive benefit of clients, to protect clients’ funds in the unlikely event of Pershing’s failure and liquidation.

Pershing is a member of the SIPC, which protects securities customers of its members up to $500,000 (including $250,000 for claims for cash). Explanatory brochure available upon request or at sipc.org.

In addition to SIPC protection, Pershing provides coverage in excess of SIPC limits from certain underwriters in Lloyd's insurance market and other commercial insurers. The excess of SIPC coverage is valid through February 10, 2022, for Pershing LLC accounts. It provides the following protection for Pershing LLC's global client assets:

• An aggregate loss limit of $1 billion for eligible securities—over all client accounts
• A per-client loss limit of $1.9 million for cash awaiting reinvestment—within the aggregate loss limit of $1 billion

SIPC and the excess of SIPC coverage do not protect against loss due to market fluctuation.

SIPC, The Securities Investor Protection Corporation, protects against the loss of cash and securities – such as stocks and bonds – held by a customer at a SIPC-member brokerage firm. 

SIPC does not protect against the decline in value of your securities. SIPC does not protect individuals who are sold worthless stocks and other securities. 

Investments in the stock market are subject to fluctuations in market value. SIPC was not created to protect these risks. That is why SIPC does not bail out investors when the value of their stocks, bonds and other investment falls for any reason.

SEI Private Trust Company does not commingle your assets with its own or other investors. Many brokers and banks can commingle investor funds. They can lend securities, offer margin lending and use their clients’ assets as collateral for their own borrowing. Unfortunately, this commingling of funds has been a factor in fraud situations.

As a trust company, SEI Private Trust Company cannot commingle funds or use client funds in its own account for any use—lending or otherwise—because all client assets are held in an account under the client’s name. SEI Private Trust Company does not participate in margin lending. Margin lending, in which client assets are used as collateral for the broker’s or bank’s lending activities, has also been seen as a primary cause of at least one high-profile failure. SEI Private Trust Company cannot pledge, lend or margin client assets that are held in its custody.

SEI Private Trust Company—not an outside firm—maintains custody of all client assets. Perhaps the largest fraud in financial history was perpetrated through manipulation of custody records for client accounts. SEI does not allow custody of client assets by any of the investment firms with which we work. Instead, all assets are held at SEI Private Trust Company. While our third-party money managers are responsible for security selection, we do not send client funds to these firms. We do not purchase products from these firms. They are simply granted access to trade securities on our platform, which we then monitor. And even though we do not allow outside firms to custody our clients’ assets, we still perform rigorous due diligence on them. 

Other safeguards and services for your protection Insurance To help protect investors from employee errors and omissions events, SEI maintains a current Errors and Omissions Professional Liability policy. In addition, we provide fidelity bond coverage for protection against employee dishonesty, including forgery or alteration, premises, transit, counterfeit currency, computer systems, and other coverages. 

Services As the custodian of your financial assets, SEI Private Trust Company is responsible for the following services:

• Safekeeping. Storage of your financial assets
• Reporting package. Periodic statement reporting that details your account value and activity, quarterly performance reports, and year-end tax reporting to assist you in completing your income tax forms
• Trade settlement. Receipt and delivery of securities and collection and distribution of proceeds from purchases and sales
• Income distribution. Collection and payment of dividends and interest payments
• Custodian-to-custodian transfers. Accounting for the movement of securities from and to other custodians › Cash processing. Collection of assets and distribution of withdrawals
• Corporate action accounting. Accounting for activities such as stock splits and mergers

Concourse Financial Group Securities and Concourse Financial Group Advisors is our Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) and Broker-Dealer (BD). Our relationship with Concourse goes back to 1984 and allows us to closely focus on our clients and their needs. Concourse helps us in many ways, including the following: 

Clients of Pendleton Financial are also clients of Concourse Financial Group. Pendleton Financial is your primary point of contact for everything related to your account. You will see their name as well as ours on your statements, and they will periodically send out compliance and regulatory related documents and notices.