Key Takeaways
- Ranked by the period-end assets under custody and/or administration each reports to the SEC, the largest U.S. custodian banks are BNY, State Street, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Northern Trust.
- Most custodians report assets under custody and administration together; JPMorgan Chase reports assets under custody alone, so the figures are close relatives rather than one definition.
- Non-U.S. custodians such as BNP Paribas, CACEIS and HSBC are not ranked, because their figures are not filed with the SEC.
- Every figure is read from the custodian's own quarterly filing and linked to it.
The largest custodian banks hold and administer the securities owned by pension funds, mutual funds, ETFs, insurers and sovereign investors. Ranked by the figures each reports in its own SEC filings, these are the five largest U.S. custodian banks, and every number below is read from the filing it is cited to.
How this ranking works
No regulator publishes a single dataset of custody assets the way the SEC publishes Form ADV for investment advisers. The primary source is each custodian's own quarterly results, filed with the SEC on Form 8-K. Every figure in the table is the period-end value for June 30, 2026, taken from that filing and linked to it. Nothing has been estimated, adjusted or combined.
Three things to keep in mind when reading the table:
- The figures measure slightly different things. Most custodians report assets under custody and/or administration (AUC/A), which counts assets a bank holds in safekeeping together with assets it administers, such as funds for which it provides accounting or transfer agency. JPMorgan Chase reports assets under custody alone. The two measures are close relatives, not identical definitions, so small gaps between rows should not be over-read.
- Each bank defines its own measure. These are not regulatory figures calculated under one set of instructions. Each filing footnotes what its number includes, and the source link in every row leads to that footnote.
- Some figures are preliminary. BNY, Citigroup and Northern Trust label their period-end custody figure as preliminary in the filing, and the table says so. A later filing can revise it.
The largest custodian banks
Ranked by period-end assets under custody and/or administration, June 30, 2026:
| Rank | Custodian | Headquarters | Reported metric | Assets, June 30, 2026 | As reported | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BNY | New York, NY | Assets under custody and/or administration | $62.6 trillion (preliminary) | $62.6 trillion | SEC Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.2 (financial supplement), filed 2026-07-15 |
| 2 | State Street | Boston, MA | Assets under custody and/or administration | $57.9 trillion | $57,858 billion | SEC Form 8-K, earnings press release, filed 2026-07-16 |
| 3 | JPMorgan Chase | New York, NY | Assets under custody | $44.9 trillion | $44,931 billion | SEC Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.2 (earnings supplement), filed 2026-07-14 |
| 4 | Citigroup | New York, NY | Assets under custody and/or administration | $34.5 trillion (preliminary) | $34.5 trillion | SEC Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.2 (quarterly financial data supplement), filed 2026-07-14 |
| 5 | Northern Trust | Chicago, IL | Assets under custody and/or administration | $20.0 trillion (preliminary) | $20,000.2 billion | SEC Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1 (earnings release), filed 2026-07-22 |
Values reported in billions are shown in trillions, rounded to one decimal place, so the column reads on one scale; the "As reported" column gives each figure exactly as its filing states it.
Who is on this list, and who is not
The five banks are the U.S. firms whose custody and asset-servicing businesses operate at global scale, and they reach it by different routes:
- BNY, State Street and Northern Trust are specialists. Custody, fund administration and related services are the center of their business rather than one line among many.
- JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup run custody inside a much larger bank, alongside their investment banking, markets and payments businesses, and serve many of the same institutional clients across all of them.
The ranking covers custodians that report to the SEC, so several large non-U.S. custodians are not ranked here, including BNP Paribas, CACEIS and HSBC. They publish their custody figures to their own regulators and investors, not in an SEC filing, and this page does not rank a figure it cannot cite to a primary source on the same footing as the others.
What custodians do
A custodian bank holds securities on behalf of the investors who own them and keeps the official record of what each client owns. Around that core sit the services that make the assets usable:
- Settlement: delivering securities and cash when a trade completes.
- Asset servicing: collecting income and processing corporate actions such as dividends, mergers and elections.
- Fund accounting and administration: calculating fund values, maintaining the books and supporting regulatory reporting.
- Securities lending and collateral management: lending clients' securities for a fee and moving collateral where it is needed.
- Reporting and data: giving clients a consolidated view of their positions across markets.
What the ranking means for technology buyers
Custody at this scale is an operations business, and the systems around it are where most of the technology spend sits, both inside the custodians and among the managers and funds that rely on them.
- Corporate actions processing, one of the most operationally intensive custody services, is compared in Corporate Actions Processing Platforms for Custodians.
- Fund accounting is compared in Fund Accounting Platforms for Mutual Funds and Fund Accounting Platforms for Hedge Funds.
- Collateral management is compared in Collateral Management Solutions for Prime Brokerage.
- For the investment manager's side of the relationship, see How to Reconcile Custodian vs. Internal Positions Daily.
The vendors behind them are listed in the capital markets and investment directory. For the other institutions that hold and manage client assets, see Largest RIAs in the U.S., Top Broker-Dealer Firms in the U.S. and 401(k) Recordkeepers Ranked by Plans Served.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is a custodian bank? A: A custodian bank holds securities and cash on behalf of institutional and individual investors, keeps the official record of what each client owns, and settles trades. Most large custodians also provide asset servicing, fund accounting and administration, securities lending and reporting.
Q: What is the difference between assets under custody and assets under administration? A: Assets under custody are assets a bank holds in safekeeping for clients. Assets under administration are assets for which it provides services such as fund accounting or transfer agency, which it may or may not also hold. Many custodians report the two together as assets under custody and/or administration, and each defines its figure in its own filing.
Q: Why are BNP Paribas and other non-U.S. custodians not ranked? A: This ranking uses figures filed with the SEC, so every row can be traced to the same kind of primary source. Large non-U.S. custodians publish their figures to their own regulators and investors rather than in an SEC filing, so they are described here rather than ranked.
Q: Where does this data come from, and how often is it updated? A: From each custodian's quarterly earnings release or financial supplement, filed with the SEC on Form 8-K. The figures change every quarter, and this page will be refreshed from newer filings.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a custodian bank?
A custodian bank holds securities and cash on behalf of institutional and individual investors, keeps the official record of what each client owns, and settles trades. Most large custodians also provide asset servicing, fund accounting and administration, securities lending and reporting.
What is the difference between assets under custody and assets under administration?
Assets under custody are assets a bank holds in safekeeping for clients. Assets under administration are assets for which it provides services such as fund accounting or transfer agency, which it may or may not also hold. Many custodians report the two together as assets under custody and/or administration, and each defines its figure in its own filing.
Why are BNP Paribas and other non-U.S. custodians not ranked?
This ranking uses figures filed with the SEC, so every row can be traced to the same kind of primary source. Large non-U.S. custodians publish their figures to their own regulators and investors rather than in an SEC filing, so they are described here rather than ranked.
Where does this data come from, and how often is it updated?
From each custodian's quarterly earnings release or financial supplement, filed with the SEC on Form 8-K. The figures change every quarter, and this page will be refreshed from newer filings.