Trust Company Services
In addition to operating a traditional accounting practice, providing audit, consulting, insolvency and management services, the firm also provides trustee services, as well as funds and portfolio management to its expanding group of overseas-based clients. Such services are carried out by Trustees International Limited, the Firm’s licensed trust company.
Other Services
Trustees International Limited
The firm’s wholly owned trust company, Trustees International Limited, was established in order to enhance the firm’s services to offshore clients and to take advantage of the country’s offshore finance centre status. Today, almost half of the firm’s business is derived from offshore clients, for whom we provide the following services:
Trust companies offer a variety of services, but the most common is wealth management in the mode of becoming a fiduciary or agent. Trust companies offer asset-management services such as bill pay, cheque writing and other features. Trust companies also offer brokerage services with a wide array of investments available to their clients. Depending on the level of service needed, some companies can build financial plans for their clients for additional fees. Trust companies also offer a variety of estate-oriented services, such as guardianship, estate settlement and non-financial asset management.
There are 3 parties to a Trust.
The Settlor
- the person who entrusts this obligation to the Trustee by way of assets which can be cash, property etc to hold and administer according to the terms of the Trust Deed. Once this property is transferred to the Trustee;
- no longer has any legal ownership. It becomes the Trust property and separate and insulated from the Settlor’s or the Trustee’s personal property and cannot be attacked by creditors of the Trustee or Settlor.
The Trustee
- holds legal title to the Trust property subject to the terms of the Trust;
- has no equitable rights over the Trust property and owes fiduciary duties to the beneficiaries of the Trust;
- is accountable to the Beneficiaries;
- is not accountable to the original Settlor and owes no fiduciary obligations.
The Beneficiaries
- have no legal rights to the Trust assets, but have equitable rights to the Trust property to enjoy the benefits of the Trust assets according to the Trust Deed.
- Any act or neglect on the part of the Trustee not authorized or excused by the terms of the trust or by law is called a Breach of Trust.
- The beneficiaries, not the Settlor, have the legal right to enforce the Trust or take legal action against the Trustee for breach of Trust.
Trust property can be cash, property, assets etc. Shares in companies can be considered as assets. A popular use of Trust structures in the offshore world is for the Trust structure to hold or manage an offshore corporation engaged in international activities. A Settlor may wish to maintain control over trust assets indirectly after having passed legal ownership of assets to a Trustee.
The Settlor can be appointed as the director of the international company, to manage the affairs of the company. In many cases this is useful, as in a family business built up over the years by the Settlor. The Settlor would be the best qualified person to continue running and managing the company successfully.
