AML compliance for advisers with custody of client assets
Praxtrust provides a fixed-price AML program build and annual independent test to advisers holding custody of client assets. An adviser with custody already answers to the Custody Rule’s own controls. It is a reasonable assumption that a qualified custodian’s AML and KYC checks would cover the adviser too. FinCEN was asked about exactly that reliance, and refused it.
- separate control sets, two jobs
- 2
- the final rule, quoted below
- 89 FR 72156
- the deadline to be live ahead of
- Jan 1, 2028
The custodian’s AML program is not yours
FinCEN’s final rule: “Regarding certain suggestions that FinCEN permit advisers to expressly rely on diligence or AML/CFT measures by other financial institutions, service providers, or other intermediaries, FinCEN declines to do so ... the adviser will remain responsible for overall compliance with these requirements” (89 FR 72156, p. 72188). A custodian’s own program is built for the custodian’s own obligations, not the adviser’s.
Two separate control sets, doing two separate jobs
Custody Rule controls protect client assets from misappropriation. The AML program protects against money laundering and terrorist financing, through a written program, a designated compliance officer, staff training, and an independent test. Satisfying one says nothing about the other.
Building the program that is actually yours
The fixed-price pack is the written AML program, the compliance officer designation, and training, built around your firm’s actual custody arrangement rather than assuming it away. The annual independent test follows once the program is live, ahead of the January 1, 2028 deadline.