America's Most Advisor-Friendly Trust Companies 2024 - 12

2024 AMERICA'S MOST ADVISOR-FRIENDLY TRUST COMPANIES
FINANCIAL ADVISOR SURVEY RESULTS
WHAT MAKES A
TRUST COMPANY
ADVISOR-FRIENDLY?
Assurance that accounts won't be taken
Reputation and length of
time in business
Quality of service based
on testimonials
Availability of
in-house experts
Assets under
administration
Capabilities of
trust accounting
systems
Lowest-priced
services
among
75%
70%
85%
WHY NOW IS THE TIME:
CREATING LONG-LASTING,
VALUABLE RELATIONSHIPS
Investors are almost universally
frustrated with raw investment
performance as the basis for their
advisory relationship. At this point, an
automated computer program can
match the market for a fraction of the
cost-and matching the market is not
always terribly impressive in itself.
80%
Trust services create the kind of deeper,
value-added relationship that provides
the long-term structure that keeps
clients from drifting away. Assets held in
trust can remain in place in perpetuity,
accumulating wealth across multiple
generations of clients and keeping the
fees flowing for decades. Obviously,
this is why banks and other institutions
keep chasing these assets and never let
them go once they grab hold of them.
61%
While this area of the industry is
practically essential to high net worth
investors, only a minority of advisors
have built the necessary network of
relationships to help clients transfer
their wealth into trusts. It takes time
and effort to find the right partner, and
with so many trust service organizations
fighting for a place at the table, the cost
of settling on the wrong partner is far
too high.
51%
competitors 43%
Source: The Wealth Advisor Audience Survey, December 2022.
Respondents were allowed to select all choices that applied.
Most trust service organizations
are affiliated with banks or asset
management firms that want to take
over the way the money is invested.
Many funnel the cash into proprietary
products. Others simply exploit their
access to your best clients in order to
prospect a greater share of the overall
assets away from legacy advisors and
into their own books of business. These
organizations tend to compete with,
rather than partner with, advisors.
These trust service organizations may
do a great job administering trusts, but
from an advisor's point of view they're
far from trustworthy, as they have
no separation between investment
12
America's Most Advisor-Friendly Trust Companies 2024

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