For Banking & Financial Institutions.
We work with banks, fiduciary institutions, and wealth managers that wish to extend art patrimony services to their clients — without the operational complexity, internal expertise, or balance-sheet exposure that such a capability would otherwise require.
A capability that is complex to build internally
Art patrimony advisory demands a specific kind of judgment — one cultivated over years of engagement with collectors, markets, provenance chains, and cultural contexts. It is not a product that can be assembled internally, nor a service that scales through delegation.
Custos Fidei acts as Art Merchant on behalf of your clients. We manage the full lifecycle of art as an alternative asset — acquisition, sale, valuation, insurance, and collection strategy — through personalised instruments and a discreet network of correspondents across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Your institution retains the client relationship. We provide the mandate.
What your clients receive
Art Merchant as a Service A fully managed art advisory mandate covering acquisition, resale, provenance research, valuation, and long-term collection strategy. Each mandate is handled personally, with absolute discretion.
Specialist Insurance Every work under our care is covered through CF-structured fine art policies — all-risk coverage, transit, custody, and title risk. Your institution may act as exclusive insurance partner for the clients referred through our collaboration, retaining the distribution commission on each annual renewal.
24/7 Digital Advisory Every client under our mandate has access to continuous personalised advisory through our digital tools — available at all times, in the language of the client.
The instrument
Our collaboration with financial institutions is structured as a defined engagement — not an open programme. We work with a limited number of institutional partners at any given time, selected on the basis of alignment, client profile, and geography.
For institutions wishing to explore a formal collaboration, we propose an initial instrument of six months across a defined number of branches or relationship managers — long enough to produce meaningful results, contained enough to be evaluated with precision.
The terms of revenue participation — retainer, transaction commission, and insurance exclusivity — are established at the outset and governed by the same principles of transparency and long-term coherence that define all our mandates.
On engagement
Institutions wishing to explore a collaboration are invited to open a correspondence through the usual channel. Please indicate the nature of your institution, the client segment you have in mind, and the geography of interest.