Fiduciary Consultant Blog

Many banks are now using their proprietary, “in house”, mutual funds as investment vehicles where the bank is acting as trustee of a personal trust account. This practice raises various questions. Unless the fund selection is carefully monitored and reviewed by the Trust Investment Committee (and noted in the Commmittee minutes) a potential breach of fiduciary responsibility may exist. In addittion to being in compliance with state trust laws, and O.C.C. Regulation 9, the bank/trustee must avoid “double dipping” on fees, ie receiving a trust administrative fee along with a fee to mnanage the investments in the proprietary mutual fund. Some banks will rebate the investment management fee to the trust account.