An IRA trustee, also called a custodian, is the institution that administers your plan. By law, every qualified retirement plan must have a custodian or trustee. A trustee may be a bank, credit union or a large brokerage firm that is licensed by the IRS. IRS regulations require that either a qualified trustee or custodian hold the IRA assets on behalf of the IRA owner. A Self-Directed IRA custodian, also called a passive custodian, allows IRA holders to engage in non-traditional investments (i.e. real estate), but generally does not offer investment advice.
IRA Financial Group has a close working relationship with all the major FDIC backed passive custodians.