Schwab agrees to sell Forge Trust self-directed IRA custodian to Alto

Charles Schwab has agreed to sell Forge Trust Co., a South Dakota-chartered self-directed IRA custodian, and its parent company, Forge Services Inc., to Alto. Alto, based in Nashville, Tenn., is a custodian and marketplace that connects retirement capital with private market opportunities.

Forge Trust is a subsidiary of Forge Global Inc., which Schwab acquired in a $660 million deal finalized earlier this year. According to a Schwab spokesperson, the decision to divest followed a review after that acquisition. "As part of our ongoing integration efforts, we conducted a thoughtful review of areas where capabilities overlap across the combined organization," the spokesperson said. "Following that review, we've reached an agreement to divest the Forge Trust business. We are committed to Forge's private markets platform and are excited about the capabilities it brings to Schwab clients."

Alto says the combined business will hold more than $20 billion in assets under custody and administration once the sale closes, along with more than 60,000 self-directed IRA accounts holding private market assets and over 3 million Custody-as-a-Service accounts.

Advisors whose clients hold self-directed IRAs at Forge Trust would, if the sale closes as announced, be dealing with a custodian whose stated focus is private-market retirement investing.

In August, Alto launched Private Deal Room, a platform for RIAs to execute advisor- and client-sourced private market deals. Advisor clients can fund private investments through qualified retirement assets. Alto handles the custodial and transactional work of holding eligible private investments in a retirement account, and advisors can oversee client accounts, cash balances, transfers and private investments through a centralized digital platform.

The announced deal will add Forge Trust's alternative asset classes and account types and client and partner relationships to Alto's technology, custody and investment infrastructure, according to the report. "We see an enormous opportunity to bring alternative assets into the financial mainstream by making retirement capital easier to put to work," Alto founder and CEO Eric Satz said in a statement.