The QI File

Qualified Intermediary

Leader1031

Leader1031.com, LLC · Parent: Leader Bank, N.A. (wholly owned subsidiary; Arlington, Massachusetts; OCC-regulated national bank, FDIC cert 57134) · Firm website

FEA membership
FEA member
CES® holders
Not published on cited pages
Fidelity bond
Not published on cited pages
E&O / other cover
Not published on cited pages
How funds are held
Funds unknown
Dual-signature wires
Wire controls unknown
Reverse / improvement / DST
Reverse Unknown · Improvement Unknown · DST Unknown
Last sourced
2026-10-22

Fund handling

Leader1031 page: the firm offers “the added security of a financial institution” and says “you’ll always know where your funds are being held,” and that as an FEA-approved QI service investors “can sleep easy knowing their funds are secure.” FAQ page: sale proceeds are routed to the QI, and an exchange account with Leader1031 must be in place before the relinquished sale closes. None of the pages opened say which bank holds the funds (Leader Bank or another), how the account is titled, whether it is under the client’s tax ID, whether funds are segregated per client, or who must sign to release a wire.

Who it is for

Bank-subsidiary QI for exchangers who want their intermediary to be a wholly owned subsidiary of a bank — Leader1031.com, LLC, owned by Leader Bank, N.A. of Arlington, Massachusetts. The site says it handles exchanges in all 50 states and offers a free consultation on Section 1031. Kayla Frerking is named VP, National Exchange Director on the California page (California-based; Leader Bank announced her hire as Vice President of 1031 Exchanges in December 2022). The live main page also lists Ashley Boyer, 1031 Exchange Coordinator, and Shane Small, 1031 Exchange Manager. Contact on the pages opened: 1031Exchange@leaderbank.com, 760-622-7716 (California line, also on the FEA listing), bank main 781-641-8686. Bank HQ per FDIC: 141 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA. Account title, bond and E&O amounts, fees, float, and reverse or improvement services are not on the pages cited.

Verdict

Bank-subsidiary QI with a clean ownership story and a real trade-association listing: Leader1031.com, LLC is stated to be a wholly owned subsidiary of Leader Bank, N.A., an OCC-regulated national bank (FDIC cert 57134, about $5.3 billion in assets at June 30, 2026), and FEA’s own Find a QI Company directory lists “Leader1031 | Leader Bank, NA,” Arlington MA. That is about all that is documented. The custody language is marketing — “the added security of a financial institution,” “you’ll always know where your funds are being held” — with no account title, no client-TIN or segregation statement, no dual-signature rule, no bond or E&O amount, and no fee card. Bank ownership does not make the deposits FDIC-insured to you, and the pages do not even say the funds sit at Leader Bank. Reverse and improvement work is only mentioned in a staff bio, not as a service. Volume figures (“$520 Million in transactions since 2022,” “more than 500” California exchanges) are firm claims. Before signing, ask which bank holds the funds and in whose name and TIN, whether the account is segregated per exchanger, who must sign to release a wire, for current fidelity bond and E&O certificates, the fee schedule, who keeps the interest, and whether Leader1031 will act as exchange accommodation titleholder for a reverse or build-to-suit.

Notes

This is a QI custody file, not a securities offering. The contracting name in the site footnotes is Leader1031.com, LLC (“Leader1031”), described as a wholly owned subsidiary of Leader Bank, N.A. The Misconceptions page says Leader1031.com, LLC is a Qualified Intermediary that cannot give legal or tax advice. The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth corporations search, checked 2026-10-22, returns one record: LEADER1031.COM, LLC, ID number 001288088, address 180 Massachusetts Avenue, Second Floor, Arlington, MA 02474. The search result does not show the formation date, the state of organization, or the managers. Confirm that the named party on the exchange agreement is Leader1031.com, LLC and not the bank.

Parent bank: FDIC BankFind, read 2026-10-22, lists Leader Bank, National Association, cert 57134, active, primary regulator OCC, established May 8, 2002, 141 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, Massachusetts, total assets $5,284,723 thousand as of June 30, 2026. Those are bank figures. They say nothing about how Leader1031 holds exchange funds, and FDIC insurance on QI-held deposits depends on how the account is titled, which is not published.

FEA: the site calls Leader1031 a “Federation of Exchange Accommodators (FEA) approved Qualified Intermediary service.” FEA’s Find a QI Company directory, searched 2026-10-22 for “Leader” and “Leader1031,” returns one listing: Leader1031 | Leader Bank, NA, Arlington MA 02474, contact Kayla.Frerking@Leader1031.com, 760-622-7716, www.Leader1031.com. Company FEA is therefore yes. The California QI blog post tells readers to hire “a certified exchange specialist that is FEA-approved (like Leader1031),” but no page opened names a CES® holder at Leader1031, so cesOnStaff stays unknown and cesHolders stays empty.

Custody: the published security story is that Leader1031 is a bank subsidiary — “the added security of a financial institution,” “you’ll always know where your funds are being held.” The FAQ says proceeds are routed to the QI and that a Leader1031 exchange account must be set up before the relinquished sale closes, and that Leader1031’s identification form is built into its exchange agreement. The pages do not name the deposit bank, account title, TIN, segregation, qualified escrow or trust options, or wire-release controls. fundsHeld and dualSignature stay unknown.

Services: the pages describe delayed (forward) exchanges and nationwide service. Kayla Frerking’s California bio says she has experience with delayed, reverse, simultaneous, and split-treatment exchanges and has worked with DST sponsors. That describes one person’s background, not a published Leader1031 reverse, improvement, or DST service, so those fields stay unknown. A Delaware statutory trust is typically a securities offering sold by a sponsor and registered representatives — a different product.

People: the live Leader1031 page, read 2026-10-22, lists the team as Kayla Frerking, VP, National Exchange Director; Ashley Boyer, 1031 Exchange Coordinator; and Shane Small, 1031 Exchange Manager. Leader Bank’s December 2022 release announced Frerking as Vice President of 1031 Exchanges and said she had worked for several qualified intermediaries before.

Volume claims vary by date: the July 2026 capture says “285 million dollars in transactions since 2022,” and the live page on 2026-10-22 says “$520 Million in transactions since 2022.” The California page says “more than 500 1031 exchanges in the State of California.” These are firm claims, not audited figures.

Contact on the pages opened: 1031Exchange@leaderbank.com; 760-622-7716 (California / FEA listing); bank main 781-641-8686. www.leader1031.com redirects to the Leader Bank page (its TLS certificate had expired when checked on 2026-10-22).

Ask Leader1031.com, LLC which bank holds exchange funds and under whose name and tax ID, whether each exchanger gets a separate account, who must sign to release funds, for current fidelity bond and E&O certificates, the fee schedule and who keeps the interest, and whether it will act as exchange accommodation titleholder for a reverse or improvement exchange — then read those papers, not this summary.

Sources

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Listings are sourced from public pages. Unknown is omitted, not graded. If a fact is wrong or stale, send the primary URL.

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