Down the Institutional Trust Highway
We recently were presented with an institutional trust opportunity from one of our alliance partners. The trust specialist working for the large wealth management firm was pleasantly surprised to see that today’s institutional trust road with First State Trust Company is free of potholes and detours.
To set the stage, this was a $500,000,000 (multiple) defined benefit plans wherein the current bank custody is a large well-known bank that historically has these types of relationships. There were natural concerns by the Plan Sponsor, which is why an RFP was issued, and we rose to the challenge.
The Plan sponsor was concerned about moving the plans to an investment firm where all services were not provided in-house, which is what they were getting at their current bank; they were required to have certified trust statements and benefit payment services, including 1099 tax reporting; this included access to an on-line benefit payment system where the plan’s administrator could manage pension payments; and the plan’s auditor requires certified statements to qualify for a limited scope audit as well as multiple custom financial reports
The investment firm wanted to use one of his investment platforms in order to provide the best negotiated pricing for investment managers; this would make overall pricing much more competitive and would save the client in annual fees and custody of assets could be with the advisor.
The road trip was so successful because the client gave up NOTHING; they are receiving the same – and better – services from us on the administrative side; the client is now learning that if it needs customized reports, First State Trust Company can easily generate those reports, which is something that was lacking at the prior bank custodian; CORRECTION – the client did give up something; FEES – between the custodial fees charged First State Trust Company and the investment management fees charged by the Advisor and his firm, the client is saving over $800,000 annually; there’s a happy dance going on by someone within this company; here’s an added bonus – the plan’s auditor is very pleased with the institutional statements being provided by us!
For more information, please contact:
Jacqueline Jenkins, CTFA
Managing Director / Chief Fiduciary Officer
Phone: 561-515-6156 / Email: jjenkins@fs-trust.com
The posts expressed are views of FSTC and are not intended as advice or recommendations. For informational purposes only. FSTC does not offer tax or legal advice, professional counsel should be sought for tax or legal advice.