BNY, Robinhood Selected by Treasury to Run Trump Accounts

The Department of the Treasury announced Monday the appointment of the Bank of New York Mellon Corp. as the initial financial agent and Robinhood Markets Inc. as the initial broker for Trump Accounts, set to launch this summer.

According to the Treasury’s announcement, BNY Mellon will oversee the initial account management and lead the development of a platform through which participants will access and manage their accounts. Robinhood, in collaboration with the National Design Studio, will design a user interface enabling households to monitor their accounts easily. The Treasury will retain overall control of the app and operations of the Trump Accounts, also known as 530A Accounts.

The financial agreement was not disclosed.

The new tax-deferred investment accounts for children established in last year’s major tax bill will launch on July 4. Each account of a child born from 2025 through 2028 will include a one-time $1,000 deposit from the Treasury.

In addition, BNY and several other major employers have pledged to match the Treasury’s $1,000 seed contribution for the children of their U.S. employees.

According to the IRS, more than 4 million children have signed up for Trump Accounts, as of March 31, with more than 1 million covered by the pilot program. That would require at least $1 billion from the Treasury.

In guidance released in March, the IRS stated: “Investments in a Trump account must track the returns of a broad index of equities in primarily U.S. companies for which regulated futures contracts are traded, avoid the use of leverage, and avoid annual fees and expenses above 0.1%.”

Parents and guardians can open Trump Accounts and claim the $1,000 Treasury deposit by submitting IRS Form 4547 with their 2025 tax returns or by enrolling online at TrumpAccounts.gov. The required authentication process is scheduled to begin in May, with the initial $1,000 “seed money” for those eligible for the pilot program to be distributed on July 4.

Each year, parents, guardians, friends and others may contribute up to $5,000 in after-tax dollars to a Trump Account. The accounts can be invested and withdrawn from, once the beneficiary is older than age 18, where it will be taxed as ordinary income.

Within that $5,000 annual limit, employers are permitted to deposit up to $2,500 per year in pre-tax contributions for the children of employees. After 2027, the limits will be adjusted for inflation. In addition, philanthropists in several states have pledged to provide seed funding to accounts for select eligible families such as a sizeable donation from Michael and Susan Dell.

The Treasury did not specify whether other firms may eventually assist in administering the accounts.

“Of course other firms in the industry are continuing to hope Treasury will provide them opportunities to play a role in Trump Accounts following the initial rollout–via rollover or by other means,” says Mark Iwry, former senior adviser to the Secretary of the Treasury for national retirement policy and currently a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.