Private Trust Companies offer High Net-Worth private clients an attractive planning alternative to the traditional professionally managed trust. Fiduchi has a wealth of experience in using PTCs for High Net-Worth private clients, for wealth management structures and structured international financial transactions.
We have a team specifically dedicated to establishing and administering private trust companies for international families. Fiduchi is a regulated provider of trust and company services, and therefore our experts are able to assist you in all aspects of ensuring continued compliance in the constantly changing landscape. Furthermore, as an Independent financial service provider, we are free from external pressures allowing us to be more flexible in our approach to your requirements. We can very quickly provide you with a PTC structure to meet your needs and able to collaborate with and range of trusted advisors to deliver your PTC solution.
A PTC is a company which is incorporated for the sole purpose of acting as trustee to one or more trusts for a family group. PTCs offer families a significant degree of control and help them structure their affairs so as to allow for as much or as little participation by members as they wish. This can encourage generational participation in the family interests, and ensure that such participation is more strictly controlled. A HNW family may prefer to incorporate a PTC to act as Trustee of their family trusts rather than using a service provider’s professional trustee company.
In order for a PTC to be effective, care must be taken at the outset to establish the structure properly, identifying who within the structure will be responsible for what. This is important from a regulatory viewpoint, as well as from a tax and legal perspective.
In addition, where several family members are involved with the activities of a PTC, care must be taken to highlight and manage any conflicts of interest. This is something that can be addressed from the outset under the terms of the constitutional documents, for example by introducing investment committees or setting specific voting rights.
Ownership of the PTC is clearly a key issue for most Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs). The shares in a Jersey PTC can be held in a number of ways, but tax advice must be taken in this respect particularly if there is a requirement for a UBO to divest himself of control in order to satisfy tax requirements in his home jurisdiction.
Traditionally shares in a Jersey PTC have been held via a purpose trust. A purpose trust is usually non-charitable in nature; it can be charitable but would then need to comply with stricter requirements. Where non-charitable, a Jersey purpose trust must have an enforcer. An enforcer is an individual appointed to enforce the terms of the purpose trust.
Typically, a UBO will appoint a trusted family advisor to this role.
Aside from ownership, another core issue to consider when structuring the PTC is the composition of the board of directors. The UBO may wish to be on the board, or may want to appoint a team of trusted advisors, or he may simply wish to be able to exercise a veto over such matters. It is possible for the UBO to exercise considerable control over this aspect of a Jersey PTC, but the usual considerations must be given to the tax and privacy rules of the UBO’s home jurisdiction and those of the proposed directors.
Control of the board can be designed into the constitutional documents of the structure at the outset, for example by requiring under the terms of the trust that the trustee is required to seek the approval of the settlor or enforcer when appointing/removing directors of the PTC. Alternatively, the articles of the PTC may include various requirements, such as an obligation on directors to abstain where there are conflicts of interest.
Under the relevant Jersey legislation, any person who carries out trust company business in the Island must be registered by the Jersey Financial Services Commission. PTCs are exempt from this requirement provided that the PTC (in general terms):
Once a Jersey PTC satisfies the requirements, it is subject to relatively light touch regulation compared both to regulated Jersey trust companies and to PTCs in some other jurisdictions. For example, a Jersey PTC:
The possible uses are extensive and can simultaneously involve both commercial and philanthropic objectives. A PTC can be used to consolidate the administration of several family trusts, thereby conveniently managing and preserving family wealth and allowing the settlor to actively plan both his succession and the future ownership of family assets.
A PTC can allow families to maintain greater control over its trusts and those trusts’ underlying interests. Additionally, the PTC structure can have a dynastic influence, allowing and encouraging the introduction of different generations into the management of the family’s affairs in a meaningful but strictly controlled way.
In order for a PTC to be effective it is important that the settlor’s wishes are understood at the outset and that these are consistently communicated to the relevant members of the family and the management of the structure. Bespoke trust deeds and company articles or other governing documents are used in order that each PTC structure can be set up precisely how each client wishes. However, communicating this to families, especially after the settlor’s death, is not always straightforward. Consideration must be given to this from the beginning and one established way of creating family awareness and acceptance is to agree a family charter, which sets out the principles and intentions of the settlor at the establishment of the PTC. These charters can be as informal as a family wishes and individual families can arrange them in whatever manner they choose, thereby reducing the chances of future disputes regarding the management of the PTC.
Web enabled, 24/7 access to all plan information for company stakeholders
Information updated in real-time
Ability to view and filter all participants
Access to suite of pre arranged, Business Intelligence reporting
Complete management oversight and control for company
Ability to create and schedule your own reporting
"Fiduchi's Online Share Plan Administration portal, has saved time, money and paper, and [it] allows us to become more efficient in the managing of our employees share awards. It's really fantastic what an impact this platform has made."
Micheal S
Head of People - Tech startup company.
Onboarding of your data to our online platform is easy regardless if you choose a fully-managed or self-service in-house solution. By making the switch to our platform, you can upgrade from having to manage your share plan data on complicated spreadsheets. Plus, to make the process as simple as possible, our experts will assist you every step of the way and we also provide helpful guides.
For businesses who opt for our fully managed solution, our platform is able to deal with each business’s unique requirements. When it comes to dealing with exact legal and regulatory issues, our platform will be able to automatically determine the actions required for each award or vesting, specific to the country in which the company operates. Therefore minimising the risks and allowing full compliance from a legal and regulatory position.
Our platform uses the highest standards to protect the valuable data and assets we hold on behalf of our clients. Our platform provider has a team of in-house cyber security and IT professionals to protect our system and carry out security audits, due diligence, penetration testing and to oversee potential threats. They are fully regulated, accredited and certified by a range of statutory and non-statutory bodies including the US Department of Commerce’s Privacy Shield.
Our platform can be branded to match your company’s own brand, therefore becoming a professional extension of your employee benefits. You can set role-based access and let your employees and shareholders log into their own online branded share platform anytime, anywhere and see exactly what shares they have and how much they are worth. They can also easily accept grants, exercise options, calculate potential pay-outs and more.
Our experienced Private Client and Family Office teams are here to answer any questions you may have. With a wealth of knowledge and expertise, they will be able to advise you on right solutions to meet your needs. You can rest assured that core to the Fiduchi principles are how your interests should best be met.
Our experienced Corporate team are here to answer any questions you may have. With a wealth of knowledge and expertise, they will be able to advise you on right solutions to meet your needs. You can rest assured that core to the Fiduchi principles are how your interests should best be met.
Our experienced Funds team are here to answer any questions you may have. With a wealth of knowledge and expertise, they will be able to advise you on right solutions to meet your needs. You can rest assured that core to the Fiduchi principles are how your interests should best be met.
Our experienced team are here to answer any questions you may have. With a wealth of knowledge and expertise, they will be able to advise you on right solutions to meet your needs. You can rest assured that core to the Fiduchi principles are how your interests should best be met.
Our experienced employee services team are here to answer any questions you may have regarding all types of employee incentive requirements. With a wealth of knowledge and expertise, they will be able to assist in finding the best solution to achieve your business needs.
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