The trust industry is often broken into 2 major sectors: private and corporate. Private deals with mainly individuals and families, charities, etc.. Corporate is largely business oriented: REITs, securitization, custody, pensions, etc. While there are some blurring of lines, typically an organisation will operate them as 2 distinct businesses with their own staff and systems.
Regardless of which side of the family you are from, this headline should perk up your interests: "China’s trust sector amasses Rmb3.7 trillion in assets" http://www.asianinvestor.net/News/264714,china8217s-trust-sector-amasses-rmb37-trillion-in-assets.aspx
Now before you all jump for joy, PRC trust companies are not your typical western corporate trust company. Therefore, it is not a simple as setting up a Joint-Venture or getting a license and off-you-go. However, we all have the infrastructure and 70% of the know-how to capture a piece of that pie. If your strategy people aren't already working on a way for you to tap into this market, then fire them as well as the people who hired them.
The PRC trust business offers another route to get to the HNWI market as well as a place to park money and investments outside of the traditional banking system. And sooner-or-later, your existing clients will be asking you to park your trust funds into these PRC trust company offerings so you better understand the system.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
The Sidekick
Not Asian news but trust related. A comrade is in trouble. Josef Dörig was part of the Credit Suisse Group at one time. He was founder of Dörig Partner AG, a Zurich trust company and serves on the board of a couple of Swiss companies so he's not a total nobody. The company website is now conveniently offline. Try Moneyhouse.
Apparently Josef's relationship with CS was intimate enough for him to be indicted in connection to the CS-US tax evasion war. CS already has about 6 or 7 staff under indictment so that is likely to end up where the UBS-US tax war ended. Book that provision now.
So another stark reminder for all you independents, being a "preferred provider" of trust and related services to the banks is not all that it is cracked up to be. Just like the old movie/book cliché, these days, the sidekick can and will be killed. You spend precious time and resources buddying up to the banks, only to get the "high risk" stuff they can't or won't do in-house. The old joke for bank trustees has been: "you send the shit out-house". You get peanuts in comparison to their fees. Perhaps time to re-think the business model?
Apparently Josef's relationship with CS was intimate enough for him to be indicted in connection to the CS-US tax evasion war. CS already has about 6 or 7 staff under indictment so that is likely to end up where the UBS-US tax war ended. Book that provision now.
So another stark reminder for all you independents, being a "preferred provider" of trust and related services to the banks is not all that it is cracked up to be. Just like the old movie/book cliché, these days, the sidekick can and will be killed. You spend precious time and resources buddying up to the banks, only to get the "high risk" stuff they can't or won't do in-house. The old joke for bank trustees has been: "you send the shit out-house". You get peanuts in comparison to their fees. Perhaps time to re-think the business model?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)