Automated Customer Account Transfer Service (ACATS) is an almost entirely electronic system in the United States that executes the transfer of

financial securities A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any for ...

from a trading account at one institution to the trading account at another. ACATS was developed by the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC), now a subsidiary of

Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is an American post-trade financial services company providing clearing and settlement services to the financial markets. It performs the exchange of securities on behalf of buyers and seller ...

(DTCC), a private holding company owned collectively by banks and financial institutions that handles the settlement of the vast majority of securities transactions in the United States. In 2023, the

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a private American corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization (SRO) that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets. FINRA is the successor to the National Associat ...

(FINRA) issued new rules regarding ACATS because of concerns about an increase in ACATS fraud. In this type of fraud, the attacker steals a victim's identity, opens a new brokerage account in the victim's name, and issues an ACATS request to transfer securities from the victim's true brokerage account to the new one.

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Financial software {{finance-stub