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Investors
SIPC steps in when a brokerage firm fails financially, and assets are missing from customer accounts.
SIPC protects customer assets when a SIPC-member brokerage firm fails financially.
Understand how SIPC protection works if you have multiple accounts.SIPC has recovered billions of dollars for investors. Our job is to recover missing cash or securities if your brokerage firm has gone out of business. SIPC does not protect digital asset securities that are investment contracts that are not registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, even if held by a SIPC member brokerage firm.
SIPC has issued Investor Bulletins explaining SIPC’s protection and claims process. Click here for Part I ("SIPC Basics"). Click here for Part II ("Filing a SIPC Claim").
WASHINGTON, DC – January 5, 2023 - Alan J. Patricof has been named to the Board of Directors of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which maintains a special reserve fund authorized by Congress to help investors at failed brokerage firms.
Mr. Patricof was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on July 29, 2022, and confirmed by the United States Senate on December 20, 2022. The President signed Mr. Patricof’s appointment papers on December 23, 2022.
“SIPC is pleased to welcome Mr. Patricof as a Board Member,” said SIPC President and CEO Josephine Wang. “His deep knowledge of the industry and commitment to investors will help guide SIPC in its important mission of protecting investors.”
Mr. Patricof is the Co-founder and Chairperson of Primetime Partners, a venture capital fund focused on servicing the aging population. He has an unparalleled history in the fields of venture capital and private equity.
Mr. Patricof said, “I am delighted to have this opportunity to serve the investing public through SIPC. I look forward to working with my fellow Directors in carrying out SIPC’s important mission of investor protection.”
A pioneer in the field of venture capital, Mr. Patricof entered the industry in its formative days with the 1969 creation of Patricof & Co. Ventures Inc., a predecessor to Apax Partners – today, one of the world’s leading private equity firms. In 2006, he founded Greycroft Partners, a venture capital firm where he is currently Chairman Emeritus, to invest in early and expansion stage investments in digital media.
Mr. Patricof has been instrumental in growing the venture capital field, as well as playing a key role in the essential legislative initiatives that have guided its evolution. He has helped build and foster the growth of major companies, including, among others, America Online, Office Depot, Cadence Systems, Cellular Communications, Inc., Apple Computer, FORE Systems, NTL, IntraLinks, Audible, Huffington Post and Axios. He was a founder and Chairman of the Board of New York Magazine, which later acquired the Village Voice and New West magazine.
A board member of the Finance Committee of Northside Center for Child Development in Harlem and of the Board of Overseers of Columbia School of Business and Fortune Society, Mr. Patricof also serves as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He holds a BS in Finance from Ohio State University and an MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
SIPC’s Board of Directors has seven members, five of whom are appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. The U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve each appoint a Director to the Board. Directors are appointed for a term of three years.
Created by Congress, SIPC was established as a nonprofit under the Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970. It was tasked with creating and administering a fund that would be used to restore investors’ missing assets in the event of a brokerage firm failure. Since 1971, through 330 liquidation proceedings, SIPC has distributed more than $140 billion for the benefit of more than 773,000 investors who otherwise might have lost their life savings.