Citywealth - Trust Companies Articles

26 Oct 2007

To trust or not to trust…

Globally the use of private trust companies is on the increase, says Steve Cantor, Managing Partner of Cantor & Webb a Miami law firm. “We’ve been seeing private trust companies set up increasingly when a family has a group of businesses across multiple jurisdictions.”  Dealing with many South American families he says his clients choose this option because they don’t want a trustee to run their business but would prefer a family member in control. Read more...

01 Dec 2006

The emerging might of equity trust

So is Hugo just a money man? Out to cash in on the trust business and walk away? He says resolutely not. “I love the business and just doing it to make money doesn’t interest me. I love the entrepreneurship - I can build something significant here. We now have a portfolio of distinct products which are running successfully. We have the worlds leading trust company and plan to be the best. The only area that needs some work is structured finance.” He adds further “its funny, many people have a view that trust is a backwater but I compare it to the brokerage business from the eighties. It was little regulated, it didn’t rely on technology and the business was fragmented but just about to get global. Capital requirements (because of regulation) are now becoming a barrier to entry. The trust business is going to be tech driven and multi jurisdictional.” Read more...

20 Oct 2006

Investec: from Johannesburg to Guernsey

own independent ability to farm out investment work. Ciara says as an example “if we were approached by a client with £3million to invest, Head of Investment Services, Mark Stenner, would sit with trustees filling in a detailed questionnaire and work out what return was needed. Mark would then do a beauty parade, to see who would fit best with the client. He usually considers three investment houses per client.” In terms of where their business comes from Caira says they get “quite a lot of referrals from Investec group worldwide.” They are one of the top companies on the islands with overall 2000 trust entities and 1000 clients. Read more...