Account keeper

Account keeping (or custody of financial securities) consists of recording financial securities in the account opened in the name of their holder. The registration of securities in a securities account legally formalizes the fact that the investor holding the account is the owner of these securities.

The account-keeper custodian must strictly distinguish between the securities it owns outright and those it holds on behalf of its clients. Finally, the financial intermediary can never use its clients' securities without their express and prior consent. This rule is intended, in the event of the intermediary's bankruptcy, to allow the immediate transfer of clients' securities to another financial intermediary. Thus, the bankrupt intermediary returns all the financial securities owned by its clients.