Trust

Stephanie Toal winner at the Jersey Finance Rising Stars 2020 Awards!

Accuro Trust Jersey is very proud to announce that Stephanie Toal, Central Administrative Support, has won the Jersey Finance Rising Stars 2020 Awards in the “Operations” category.

This inaugural event which took place virtually on Friday 13^th November and was hosted by ITV Journalist, Alexandra Spiceley, showcased the industry’s support for young professionals. Over 150 professionals between the ages of 16 and 30 have been nominated in 12 different categories and those shortlisted were selected by a panel of independent judges.

Marc Pullman, COO of Accuro Group said: “Stephanie has proven to be invaluable to the Accuro Business through her enthusiastic, energetic and engaging teamwork but equally as important, she delivers excellent client service while exceeding in all of the core values that we at Accuro stand by.”

STEP 60-second interview with Paul Douglas

What does your firm or employer do, and what is your role there?

Accuro operates a multi-jurisdictional Trust and Private Office business, to care for and protect families and their wealth for the long term. I am one of the founding partners, a board member, and Managing Director of the Jersey office, where I’m involved in our business growth strategy.

What is the most important thing STEP does, in your opinion?

STEP’s role in constantly developing industry standards through information sharing, representation and education.

You are one of the judges at this year’s STEP Private Client Awards in December. What led you to get involved?

I was delighted to have been selected as a judge, after Accuro was either nominated for, or won, Trust Company of the year (Midsize) for each of the last three years.

What do you think makes a good Private Client Awards submission?

I would say an entry that directly answers the question with substantiated facts, and in particular reflects how the business brings innovation to our industry.

What do you most like about your job?

While the private client industry is perpetually evolving, in many respects, the issues surrounding the succession of wealth across families remain the same. I find it highly motivating to help clients’ families to navigate global complexities, and work with our team to build a business to meet these challenges.

What would you say to a young person thinking of a career in this industry?

The fiduciary industry is multi-faceted and offers many options. By choosing an area you most enjoy, you will inevitably excel, and derive job satisfaction. Find the right firm – I’d recommend one that places an emphasis on continued education (and ideally is a STEP Employer Partner), recognises the importance of work-life balance, and has a culture of doing things right first time.

Which sectors are likely to see the strongest future growth, do you think?

The private client industry continues to see rapid transformation. Many trust and fiduciary providers have moved away from this sector, owing to perceived higher risk/lower reward. However, the accumulation and transferral of wealth across generations is only going to increase, resulting in a limited pool of top quality service providers to meet demand.

What about jurisdictions?

Private clients are paying much more attention to associating themselves with jurisdictions that have a stringent regulatory framework, a strong wealth management infrastructure and a talent pool that has mastered the issues required to deliver market leading financial services.

What trends do you see in the global private wealth sector at the moment?

International planning has to be bespoke to reflect the cross-jurisdictional nature of families and their assets. However many providers do not wish to accept this, and offer a standardised approach to their administration of structures. Inevitably, this leads to dissatisfied clients; hence the trend towards independent boutique trust companies, single and multi-family offices.

What do you feel are the main challenges facing your organisation at the moment, and how will you deal with them?

Increasing global complexities arising from tax legislation, regulations and transparency initiatives are not necessarily new, but as they evolve, businesses need to constantly adapt to meet these challenges. In addition, the younger generation demands greater social and environmental consciousness from the manufacturers of the goods they consume. As they come into wealth, they will ask the same from their wealth advisors, hence the importance of being able to accompany them when they seek to deploy their wealth in a more sustainable and responsible manner.

We will also have to attract the next generation of talent to work in the industry. This generation seeks a working environment where their values are aligned with those of their employers, and where they can grow as individuals and as professionals.

Which social media channels do you use and why?

LinkedIn for business, Twitter for news and Facebook to connect with family and friends.

Paul Douglas is one of the founders of Accuro, and is the Managing Director of Accuro in Jersey. He has a STEP Advanced Certificate in Family Enterprise Advising.

6 April 2020, Paul Douglas, www.step.org

Jersey’s relationship to Africa – Accuro: Structuring for good causes

International private client families

Accuro administer a number of trust and company structures set up by Southern African resident families to attend to succession planning. These structures are also established to help private clients diversify their currency, economic and political risk from emerging market economies into developed markets.

While the planning is standard, the management and administration of multi-jurisdictional families is complex.

For example, it isn’t uncommon to have a family with their adult children resident in the US, UK and Canada.

Family business and co-investment opportunities

Accuro have also seen growth in structures established by South African businesses looking to expand into the UK and US using the same business models that have been successful for them in South Africa.

These clients want to diversify their holdings and dilute their investment risk by investing outside the country and in business sectors that they know well. The structures are tax transparent and approved by the local exchange control authorities, with the branch company being established in Jersey to hold the foreign assets. Property is a key theme but other investments in operating companies is also a growing feature.

Similarly, and because most of our clients are entrepreneurial, investments into Africa are made via offshore trust and corporate structures.

Philanthropy

Philanthropy is growing and Accuro have established structures to benefit numerous causes in countries in Africa. The use of structuring provides families with the governance and reporting infrastructure necessary for such giving. Under the guidance of philanthropy advisors, Accuro can help define the causes to support, build in a strategy, provide reporting on the structure’s impact and, where appropriate, assess its sustainability.

Published on 26 February 2020 in Jersey Finance, Jersey’s relationship with Africa

Natacha Onawelho-Loren winner of the Wealthbriefing Swiss Awards in the “Women in Wealth Management (Individual Contribution)” category

Accuro is proud to announce that Natacha Onawelho-Loren, Managing Director of Accuro Switzerland, won the “Women in Wealth Management (Individual Contribution)” Award on the occasion of the Wealthbriefing Swiss Awards.

Since Natacha joined Accuro 14 years ago (ex-Investec Trust), her constant progression has made her a key senior member of the team and one of the six founding partners of Accuro post MBO.

She is a truly engaged and visible leader that is both versatile and involved in all areas of our business. In the past years, she has been equally at ease with driving FATCA and CRS technical projects, growing revenues by successful pitches in relation to complex and high value matters, and running at profit a large book of clients.

Natacha is an inspiration of success and we send her our sincerest congratulations for this amazing achievement.

Natacha Onawelho-Loren

Prepare for Lift-Off

This development is good news for Swiss-resident business owners, as it provides a much-needed vehicle for estate planning. Moreover, it broadens the toolbox of Swiss trustees, who will not have to rely solely on foreign law-governed trusts for the establishment of trusts out of Switzerland.

Legislative lift-off

One can think of the introduction of a Swiss trust law as a rocket, requiring a launch pad, plenty of preparation and the right atmospheric conditions. Here, the preparations involved various stages of legislative developments, with the ‘atmosphere’ of alignment of regulatory and political conditions. The window of opportunity for a successful launch is ready, but it is down to the legal and trust community to speak with one voice, and for the politicians to act.

Launch Pad

The fertile ground for trusts has been present for decades, given the exposure of the Swiss legal system, courts and ﬁnancial professionals to family trusts. Trust companies form an integral part of the country’s ﬁnancial ecosystem, and organisations like STEP and the Swiss Association of Trust Companies have contributed positively to the professionalisation of the sector.

Preparation

In 2007, Switzerland ratiﬁed the Hague Convention of 1 July 1985 on the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition. That was followed the same year by the adoption of Circular No. 30 (the Circular) on trusts, creating a favourable tax regime for foreign trusts administered in Switzerland where settlors and beneﬁciaries are resident abroad. However, the Circular is less favourable as regards trusts’ establishment by Swiss residents.

The arrival of a Swiss trust might offer the possibility to examine this, without creating either a tax beneﬁt or detriment for Swiss-resident settlors and beneﬁciaries.

Political conditions

Finally, the change of paradigm in Switzerland as an international ﬁnance centre, from reliance on banking secrecy to compliance with international standards, creates the conditions for a sound evaluation of the adoption of the trust into Swiss law. Shortcuts made by certain Swiss politicians mischaracterising trusts as a means to hide the identity of beneﬁcial owners and evade tax do not stand the test of the current regulatory framework. The 2018 enactment of the Swiss Financial Institutions Act (FinIA)¹ should further comfort politicians, as it obliges both Swiss and foreign trustees active in Switzerland to obtain a licence to carry out their activities.

It is essential for Switzerland’s legislators to get the legislative enactment right. The risk would be to characterise a trust as a contract or a corporation, because that would fail to recognise its unique features. Indeed, it would make it a tax subject where the principle for taxation of foreign trusts under the Circular is tax transparency.

Options

With that in mind, various options are open to the Swiss legislators. One of them is to borrow wholesale from a well-regarded foreign trust statute (e.g. Jersey or England and Wales). This would require signiﬁcant legislative changes, such as the adoption of the notion of equity, an unfamiliar legal concept under Swiss law.

An alternative is to look in the direction of the Swiss foundation. However, the foundation, as an estate-planning vehicle at least, today presents serious legal restrictions and tax challenges, being a legal entity, and so would fail to broaden the type of vehicles at the disposal of Swiss trustees to structure family wealth.

A third interesting option is offered by honorary STEP member Professor Luc Thévenoz, who suggests that Switzerland’s legislators: ‘build upon and expand the existing but under-developed law of fiducie (Treuhand). …As is already the case for trust assets, fiduciary assets should be considered as a special patrimony (Sondervermögen), separate from the fiduciary’s personal assets and liabilities, and dedicated to the interests of the beneficiaries… It would be firmly rooted in the legal principles of Swiss civil law while enjoying international recognition by way of the Hague Trusts Convention.’²

The attractiveness of such an option lies in the analogy between the functionalities of a trust and the ﬁducie, and the reinforcement of an institution known for more than a century by Swiss courts and legislators.

Whatever the option chosen, any Swiss trusts law will have to integrate all the main functionalities of trusts, be tax neutral and provide a ﬂexible wealth-transfer vehicle, currently missing under Swiss law for both Swiss residents and foreigners. The countdown to launch has begun.

¹See p.47 – STEP Journal (Vol27 Iss5)

²Luc Thévenoz, ‘Proposition pour un trust suisse’, Revue suisse de droit des affaires et du marché financier, 920:2 (2018), pp. 99-112

STEP Journal, June 2019, June issue, (Vol27 Iss5), p.35

Accuro wins the Who’s Who Legal Private Client Trust and Advisory Services Award

Accuro was announced as the winner of the Private Client Trust and Advisory Services Award at this year’s Who’s Who’s Legal (WWL) awards ceremony on 3 April.

WWL celebrated the very best of the Swiss legal market at their inaugural awards ceremony at the Widder Hotel in Zurich, and we were honoured to share the room with a strong delegation of leading law firms.

We are equally delighted that our strategy to expand into the Zurich market, as well as the non-fiduciary space, and our commitment to provide high-quality service to our clients is being recognised consistently by our peers.

Trusting in Private Equity?

Horses for courses

“There is no doubt that private equity is the future of the industry”, according to Grant Barbour, global head of private client at Ocorian, a trust company backed by private equity firm Inflexion, the same private equity firm behind Sanne Group’s IPO in 2015. “The trust industry is a very lucrative sector for private equity. We’re going to see more investment and it’s going to get bigger”, he adds.

David Goar, a partner at Rawlinson & Hunter in Jersey, a global brand made up of independent partnerships working together to provide international advice, is betting on a different future: “We’re taking the alternative path. We’re a partnership with no intention to sell and it seems to be a rare commodity working well for us. We do not focus on short term profit and instead look to establish long-term client relationships.”

It’s ‘horses for courses’, as the old saying goes; while some clients will be drawn to the owner-managed model, others will seek the private equity-backed ‘one-stop shop’.

Fee hunt in corporate?

Research shows that there is an increasing focus among PE-backed trust companies on the corporate services side of the industry. This move is explained by the financials where profitability is higher because fees are higher by legacy. Paul Douglas, managing director at Accuro – an owner-managed trust company observes: “Among the PE-backed trust companies, we are seeing a shift to a focus on the corporate services side of the business and a move away from private client. We anticipate that private client divisions could break away or be sold”.

Yet Barbour thinks that despite the corporate side of the industry being a big fee generator that private equity-backed trust companies won’t be spinning off their private client teams anytime soon. “Private equity like a mix of disciplines. It’s beneficial for them to have a strong private client angle to the business, as it protects against unforeseen issues affecting corporate or funds. Some PE-backed trust companies are focusing on corporate as it is a big fee generator but certainly from our experience we know they like a balanced portfolio and are investing in private client as well” he says.

The regulatory hurdle

A further reason why we might not see too many spin offs or start-ups is the cost of dealing with the regulatory requirements. “This is something that shouldn’t be underestimated”, says Goar. He explains that Jersey is at the forefront of trust regulation which he perceives as a major benefit to the industry, as it enhances Jersey’s reputation internationally. However in his opinion the cost of compliance has created “a barrier to entry for new businesses”.

Douglas agrees, “It’s difficult to set up a trust company from scratch, you need infrastructure from day one due to the regulations. Breakaway teams might struggle unless they have an arrangement in place with their prior business. New players might be more likely in less regulated jurisdictions, but well-advised clients will seek well-regulated jurisdictions.”

Private equity aids consolidation

Despite the different business models, the industry is in agreement that more consolidation is to come. “The pace of consolidation is continuing, and I don’t expect a slowdown” says Douglas. It’s a further consequence of the rising cost of compliance. “The industry is becoming increasingly regulated and you need to be bigger to deal with the regulatory and reporting burdens”, says Barbour.

It’s also a reason to seek private equity investment, according to Barbour. “Our private equity backers assisted us greatly with M&A expertise” says Barbour. Ocorian has made a string of recent acquisitions including ABAX Corporate Services in Mauritius and Capco Trust in Jersey. “When you go into an acquisition with a PE-backer you go in with a tremendous amount of expertise enabling you to do smarter and better acquisitions which are good for the industry”.

Revisits from law firms and banks?

“We’re not yet seeing the banks come back, but I wouldn’t rule it out entirely. Although I don’t expect them to come back anytime soon!” says Douglas.

“The banks will be very aware of the onerous regulatory and reporting regimes in the fiduciary industry, not to mention the potential liability of not carrying out fiduciary duties correctly. Their core business is banking not fiduciary and they’ll need to weigh up the risk involved. It’s possible they’ll come back but I don’t think it’s as easy as it was in the past. There are big barriers to overcome and massive expense”, says Barbour.

Douglas says there is interest among law firms to re-enter the space, so whether that will bring more competition to the sector remains to be seen.

Published on November 2018 in Citywealth

STEP 60 seconds interview with Xavier Isaac

What does your firm or employer do, and what is your role there?

Accuro is a multi-jurisdictional Trust and Family Office business, with the aim of caring for and protecting families and their wealth for the long term. I am the CEO.

What is the most important thing STEP does, in your opinion?

Education You are one of the judges at this year’s Private Client Awards in November.

What led you to get involved?

Accuro is a previous winner. Last year we were awarded Trust Company of the Year (midsize firm), and I got involved after that. What do you think makes a good Private Client Awards submission? One that’s punchy and to the point, and illustrated by facts, figures and few examples.

What do you most like about your job?

I value the people side of it as well as its diversity and unpredictability. This requires constant adaptation and learning. We had a successful management buy-out last year, which enables us to take a long-term view on how, and with whom to build the business, for the benefit of our colleagues and clients.

What would you say to a young person thinking of a career in this industry?

People will continue to need wills, and taxes and regulations will continue to develop, and make the environment for international families even more complex. Global studies show the international high-net-worth population is set to grow, with USD100 trillion projected wealth for 2025.

Which sectors are likely to see the strongest future growth, do you think?

Family and business governance, together with the structuring that goes with it, in particular for new wealth owners of high growth companies (like social media and technology) and next generation of entrepreneurs.

What about jurisdictions?

I note a flight to quality, meaning stable and reputable jurisdictions. Typically well-regulated international financial centres with a broad and multi-cultural talent pool, strong infrastructure and both depth and breadth of private wealth services should prevail. I am concerned for the future of those jurisdictions that do no not meet these requirements.

What trends do you see in the global private wealth sector at the moment?

I envisage more trust company consolidation, a buyers’ bias towards fund and corporate services, a worrying race to the bottom on fees, fast-paced introduction of new regulations, and much competition for talent.

What do you feel are the main challenges facing your organisation at the moment, and how will you deal with them?

The work resulting from transparency and regulations, coupled with downward pricing pressures and the increased complexity of our activities, are currently our main challenges. We will deal with them through investing in new technology to automate processes and improve efficiency. We recently launched the Accuro Academy, a formal learning academy to deliver quality and relevant development to every employee. This is delivered under the guidance of a specialist organisational development company, and provides continuous development of both technical and interpersonal skills.

Which social media channels do you use and why?

LinkedIn, because it provides us the best value for time and money.

The STEP Private Client Awards 2018/19 take place on 7 Nov.

Xavier Isaac TEP is CEO of Accuro, the award winning multi-jurisdictional Trust & Family Office business. He is a member of STEP and a regular speaker at STEP conferences. Xavier has served on the Panel of Experts for the STEP Private Client Awards on several occasions.

Published on 15 October 2018 in STEP Journal

Will and Trust documents

Brian Hirsch is joined by Gordon Stuart, the Managing Director of Accuro, and Harry Joffe, Head of Legal Services of Discovery Life.

Please click on the video below for further information:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PvCVN86k98

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvM8xBQZOSg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9GaQGz7QfE

Switzerland, an innovation hub for international philanthropy

Nowadays, philanthropists are looking to make an impact during their lifetime and are often involved in the projects they support. They go beyond the making of a gift by leveraging their skills and networks in order to support their philanthropy projects. In doing so, they surround themselves with professionals who can accompany them on their philanthropic journey, whether it is on the selection of projects, the structuring side (e.g. the creation of a family foundation or a personal fund within a hosting foundation) or the investment of the capital contributed (e.g. “Impact” or “Mission Related Investment”).

But to generate change, one needs innovation. This in turn requires the creation of a favourable ecosystem where people can connect, interact, debate and learn from each other. If, on top of that, the legal, tax, regulatory and supervisory frameworks surrounding these people are conducive to their intended activities, you have probably found an “innovation hub”. As far as international philanthropy is concerned, that hub has a name: Switzerland.

A city like Geneva, where Andre Dunant decided to create the Red Cross, illustrates perfectly the point. It is a rich city with numerous individual and corporate entrepreneurs and donors. Geneva provides useful links to experts from international organizations, NGOs and international conferences in areas such as human rights, environment, development, peace and refugees. These specialists might be available for exchanges and collaboration on philanthropy projects. It is also an international financial centre, where one can draw on the banking sector as well as asset management and structuring capabilities around the establishment of philanthropy foundations. The local authorities contribute to that dynamism by implementing initiatives aiming at simplifying or reducing the delay for processing a new foundation’s set up application. They collaborate closely with organisations like “SwissFoundations”, an independent body representing Swiss public foundations with a view to share knowledge and experiences through topical round tables. Together they work at building bridges between the philanthropic and the public sectors. This offer has been completed by the establishment in 2017 of the Geneva Centre for Philanthropy at the Geneva University, which aims at supporting the international development and promotion of Geneva as a platform for philanthropy.

Beyond Canton of Geneva, the Swiss philanthropy ecosystem is complemented by other academic initiatives like the creation by SwissFoundations in 2008 of the Centre for Philanthropy Studies (CEPS) at the Basel University. CEPS is the first interdisciplinary research and information centre for foundations and philanthropy in Switzerland. Last but not least, a new Chair on Family Philanthropy has been launched at IMD, the internationally based business school in Lausanne. Interestingly the Chair was created by a family business called Debipharm. The aim of the chair is to increase the social and financial impact of family philanthropy. It facilitates the creation of best practices and is the source of methodology to strengthen the analysis, decision-making processes, evaluation criteria, and governance in the area of family philanthropy. Another objective of the chair is to build upon and transmit common values to businesses and across family generations through philanthropy.

It is therefore no surprise that the sector of Swiss philanthropy foundations confirms its positive evolution observed over the last 5 years. With a total of 13.172 foundations and 349 new foundations established in 2016, Cantons of Zurich, Vaud, Bern and Geneva are the driving forces of such growth. To put these numbers into a European perspective, Switzerland shows a foundations’ density per 10,000 inhabitants of 16 against 2 for Germany and less than 2 for countries such as France, Spain and Italy.

It is also interesting to note the evolution of the philanthropic themes of Swiss foundations. Over the last 10 years, there has been a marked increase in the number of foundations active in the domains of research and education (+21%), environment (+50%) and international activities (+53%). The trend for newly created foundations is also to have broader goals, giving them more room to evolve over time.

Such a fertile territory makes Switzerland a trendsetter in international philanthropy with a couple of areas of particular expertise. One of them is the set up a personal philanthropic fund within a hosting foundation as an alternative to bespoke family philanthropy foundations. Whilst not a new concept as such, only a dozen of them have been established over the last 10 years, like the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation (SPF) in Geneva. With an initial starting capital or through an annual contribution, the fund’s assets are held in a segregated account, which is kept completely separate from the umbrella foundation’s other assets. Founders are not anymore the legal owners of the gifted assets but can suggest a preferred custodian bank and asset manager given the independence of the hosting foundation. The fund can be named according to the family’s wishes. The beauty of it is that you can focus the founder(s) efforts on achieving their philanthropy goals instead of being bogged down with the governance and administration burden of running a foundation. It is also cheaper to run. The funds are managed by a steering committee that includes the founder(s) or their representative and at least one member representing the hosting foundation. It can take as little as a few weeks to set it up.

Another area of excellence for Switzerland is sustainable finance. This refers to any form of financial service integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into the business or investment decisions. Green bonds, impact investing, credits for sustainable projects, microfinance and active ownership, all fall under the heading of sustainable finance. Under the leadership of the Swiss Sustainable Finance (SSF), an association founded in 2014, more than 90 members from the financial services sector, universities, the public sector and investors are promoting sustainable finance by informing, educating and catalysing growth. I have witnessed as member of SPF Financial Commission that ESG compliant investment is becoming an increasingly important topic on the donors’ agenda. It requires the involvement of innovative service providers who can provide an initial sustainability assessment of the securities portfolio and assist to clarify milestones for an evolution towards a more effective ESG impact. It then goes on with the reconstruction of the portfolio with a view to maximize both performance and positive investment decisions in line with the principles of sustainable development.

A last area worth mentioning are the many examples of successful cooperation between Swiss based foundations to achieve better and quicker results.

If you were still looking for evidence of Switzerland as an international philanthropy hub, I would encourage you to have a look at the distinction “GREAT!” recently distributed to 10 philanthropic initiatives selected by Swiss Philanthropy Foundation Council to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the foundation. It is a firework of dynamic, innovative and diversified initiatives promoting philanthropy. But at the end of the day, all this has only one purpose: to encourage those who wish to start a philanthropic journey to do so, and to offer them the broader toolbox to achieve it with passion and professionalism.

Published on December 4 2017 by Eprivateclient

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