Trident Trust Offers a Genuinely Personalised Service

In this interview with Tom Burroughes, WealthBriefingAsia’s Group Editor, Mark O'Sullivan, Managing Director of our Hong Kong operations, comments on Trident Hong Kong's achievement and recognition as "Best Independent Trust or Fiduciary Company" in the Greater China region.

The Hong Kong office was Trident Trust’s first Asian office, established over 28 years ago. Over the past years the office’s focus was on developing itself as a market leader in the provision of trust and more recently fund administration and listed company services. The team has grown from 35 to more than 80 people in the last three years and continues to add talented professionals as the business grows.

Trident Trust is a leading global corporate, fiduciary and fund administrator, employing over 900 staff in more than 20 jurisdictions and across a footprint that spans Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East.

What sets you apart from the peers this year and why?

Despite the trend in our industry for providers to be sold to private equity firms or to seek public listings, we are, and will remain, privately owned. As a result, we are uniquely positioned to offer our clients a stable, sustainable, and private relationship that will not be compromised by conflicts of interest, short-term transactional and financial priorities, or changes in ownership. This is something clients appreciate and have been looking for, especially during these uncertain times.

We are proud to offer a genuinely personalized service, so that our clients can feel supported throughout the pre- to post-establishment phase and the ongoing administration of their structure. Different teams and different team members might be involved, but the process is seamless and clients receive a dedicated high touch service.

For a very long time, we were very well known for provision of offshore corporate services in locations such as the BVI, and less well known for our onshore corporate and trust services in Hong Kong. But we have worked very hard to change that and we are now broadly recognized as a market leader across all services. Our partners are impressed by the depth and breadth of our service offering and our ability to accept a wide spectrum of structures from PTCs, pre-IPO planning trusts, EBTs and other tailor made trust structures.

How have your colleagues contributed towards the success of your organisation?

The quality of our team is the foundation of everything we do. We have a very a committed, hard-working and talented multi-lingual team who deliver a high quality and personal service, which is recognised in testimonials we receive from our clients. 

What are you going to do to stay on the front foot in a fast-growing but also challenging region such as this?

As we continue to grow, we will ensure that we have all the right people sitting in all the right seats, from business development, through to onboarding, relationship management and administration. In addition, we will continue to hire qualified staff who have the right mindset and attitude and can identify with our core values of reliability, responsiveness, attention to detail and personal service.

We have built a strong support team of dedicated and knowledgeable staff in the field of accounting, compliance, operations and FATCA/CRS reporting and continue to offer all our services in-house. And, very importantly, we feel it is essential maintaining close and regular contact with our clients and business partners to understand their needs, especially in testing times, and to adapt our services to better suit their
requests.

What have been the challenges you have had to overcome to reach such a standard?

We have noted that the competition in the industry is more intense now than ever before. This includes both the search for new additions to the team, and the generation and conversion of new leads into clients. In addition, helping clients navigate an increasingly complex, more regulated, more globally integrated environment meant that the request for highly experienced professional service providers today is significantly higher than it was even five years ago.

Whom do you look to for inspiration and ideas?

We maintain an active exchange with other Group offices and other professionals in Hong Kong and internationally, such as law firms, accounting firms, tax advisers and family offices as we feel that regular exchange of knowledge and practical experience with other key players in the financial services industry is key.

Furthermore, we keep looking at the market to spot any new market trends and hot topics which may have an impact on our clients or on the industry and markets in which we operate. Keeping ourselves up-to-date, understanding the new challenges, regularly refreshing our service offerings and adapting quickly and effectively to market demands is what makes the difference.

What do you hope will be the result of receiving this accolade? How does it help your business in this region?

This recognition will surely help further increase our brand awareness within the region, and knowledge of our core offerings of trust, corporate and fund services. The award is validation that we are on the right track but it is also an incentive to do even better as we can always improve!

Last but not least, we are extremely pleased to have been given the opportunity to share such a great achievement with our team. This prestigious award is an amazing recognition for their hard work and commitment throughout the year.