We understand how important safety and security are when it comes to your account. We always want to be as transparent as possible and provide you with all the information we can - we've included some helpful information below.
Who holds my shares?
Your Public brokerage account is held with Open to the Public Investing, Inc. (“Public Investing”) as your broker of record. Public Investing is a registered broker-dealer with FINRA. Your shares are generally held in street name at Public Investing’s clearing and custody firm, Apex Clearing Corporation (“Apex Clearing”). Public Investing and Apex are both members of FINRA and SIPC.
What happens if Public or Apex becomes insolvent?
SIPC protects assets – both cash and securities – held in your brokerage account at Public Investing. If any securities in your account are on loan by Apex Clearing under its fully-paid securities lending program (more details here), then SIPC protection may not apply to those loaned out shares while they are on loan.
SIPC coverage becomes relevant in the unlikely event that Public Investing or Apex Clearing becomes insolvent and you are unable to get access to the assets in your brokerage account(s). SIPC coverage protects assets up to a total of $500,000, of which $250,000 applies for cash. There are additional terms and limits on SIPC coverage that aren’t discussed here. For full details, please refer to www.SIPC.com.
It is worth noting that Apex Clearing has additional insurance coverage against its insolvency in excess of the regular SIPC limits. In the event of insolvency at Apex Clearing, claims that exceed the standard SIPC limits may be able to make a claim against Apex Clearing under its excess insurance policy. That excess policy has an aggregate limit of $150 million across all Apex Clearing accounts, subject to sub-limits per each individual customer of $37.5 million for securities and $900,000 for cash to protect customer assets.
Please note, there are a few limitations to SIPC coverage to keep in mind:
Neither SIPC coverage nor Apex Clearing’s additional SIPC insurance provides protection against loss in the market value of securities.
SIPC coverage (and Apex’s excess SIPC insurance) do not apply to crypto assets. If you have a crypto account, that account exists with Bakkt Crypto Solutions LLC (formerly Apex Crypto), a separate entity and separate account from Public Investing and Bakkt Clearing. Your crypto assets held by Bakkt Crypto are not covered by SIPC or FDIC.
If you hold Alternative Assets at Public, those also may not be covered by SIPC, depending upon the asset.
Thank you for being a part of our community and let us know if you have any questions by reaching out to our team via chat or email at support@public.com.