Isle
of Man Trust Management
Trust
management, particularly for wealthy
UK individuals, has been a traditional
business for the Isle of Man. The
recent introduction of the purpose
trust will probably lead to an increase
in corporate trust work.
The
Isle of Man has a well-developed
legal and financial infrastructure
for trust management. With a large
established base of trusts, and
a growing reliance on corporate
work, the volume of trust litigation
is becoming significant.
Until
2004, trustees were not licensed
or supervised by the Financial Supervision
Commission, unless the fiduciary
carried on business in investment,
banking or insurance, in which case
licences were required under those
headings.
The
Fiduciary Services Act, 2004, extended
the Corporate Service Providers
Act 2000 to require persons who,
by way of business, provide certain
services to trusts and partnerships
or act as nominee holders of units
in unit trusts, to hold a fiduciary
licence.
The licensing of fiduciaries brought
the Isle of Man into line with similar
arrangements already established
in other offshore jurisdictions
such as Bermuda, Guernsey and Jersey
and an external review of the proposals
by London law firm Stikeman Elliot
found the Act compared favourably
with legislation in these places.
Alongside
the Fiduciary Services Act, the
Isle of Man Financial Supervision
Commission updated its Fiduciary
Services Regulatory Codes.
“In
amending the draft Fiduciary Services
(General Requirements) Regulatory
Code and the Fiduciary Service (Clients’
Money and Trust Money) Regulatory
Code and associated guidance notes,
we were particularly aware of the
industry’s concerns in respect of
potential conflict with trust law
and that the financial resources
requirements should not be too onerous,”
noted Jane Bates, Head of Authorisations
& Companies at the FSC.
“We
hope that we have now achieved a
good balance and have set standards
that will meet the Commission’s
regulatory imperatives without placing
an unreasonable burden on the industry,”
she added.
