Define: Held Away Account
In a contract, a Held Away Account is an account that holds a party's funds or assets at a financial institution other than the primary institution named in the agreement, such as a custodian or the platform provider. The contract typically requires the account holder to grant read only access or reporting rights so balances and transactions can be verified without the funds moving.
Legal accuracy standard set & glossary spot-checked by Imad Mohammed Nazar , Skadden-trained M&A lawyer, Legal Engineer at GenieAI
What Held Away Account Means in a Contract
A Held Away Account clause identifies accounts that sit outside the direct custody of the primary institution party to an agreement, yet are still relevant to the contractual relationship because they contain assets or cash that affect eligibility, risk assessment, or reporting obligations. The term is common in financial services and wealth management agreements where an advisor or platform wants visibility into a client's full financial picture without physically holding every asset.
The defining feature is separation of custody from oversight. The institution named in the contract does not hold the funds, but the agreement grants it a defined right, often limited to viewing balances and transaction history, so it can calculate fees, assess suitability, or satisfy regulatory disclosure duties. This distinguishes a Held Away Account from a standard linked account used purely for transfers.
Because the account remains under the account holder's control at a separate institution, the contract must carefully describe the scope of access being granted, since without that clarity a Held Away Account provision can create ambiguity about what the contracting party is actually entitled to see or do.
How Held Away Account Is Defined or Measured
Most agreements define a Held Away Account by three elements: the name or type of the outside financial institution, the mechanism of access such as a data feed, aggregation service, or read only login, and the purpose for which the information may be used. Some contracts measure the account by its aggregate value, requiring it to be reported for minimum asset thresholds or advisory fee calculations.
Definitions frequently distinguish between accounts that are merely disclosed for informational purposes and accounts that are actively monitored through automated data feeds. The latter often triggers additional obligations around data accuracy, refresh frequency, and error correction procedures.
- Institution identification: naming the outside custodian or bank holding the account.
- Access method: specifying whether access is manual disclosure, an application programming interface feed, or a third party aggregator.
- Scope of use: limiting whether the data may be used only for reporting or also for advice, fee calculation, or risk scoring.
Where Held Away Account Appears in Agreements
The term appears most often in investment advisory agreements, wealth management contracts, and broader Relevant Circumstances
Relevant Sectors