Fiduciary services are a range of financial and legal services provided by professionals who are legally and ethically bound to act in the best interests of their clients. Fiduciaries have a fiduciary duty to their clients, which means that they must put their clients’ needs ahead of their own and avoid conflicts of interest.
Fiduciary services can be provided by a variety of professionals, including:
- Financial advisors
- Wealth managers
- Estate planners
- Attorneys
- Trustees
- Investment managers
- Corporate directors
- Pension plan administrators
Some common types of fiduciary services include:
- Investment management
- Trust administration
- Estate planning
- Retirement planning
- Tax planning
- Financial advice
- Corporate governance
Fiduciary services are important because they help to ensure that clients’ financial and legal interests are protected. Fiduciaries are held to a high standard of care and must act in the best interests of their clients at all times.
A fiduciary is someone who manages money or property for someone else. When you’re named a fiduciary and accept the role, you must – by law – manage the person’s money and property for their benefit, not yours.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (US)
Here are some examples of fiduciary services:
- A financial advisor who helps you to create an investment plan and manage your portfolio.
- A trustee who manages the assets of a trust on behalf of the beneficiaries.
- An estate planner who helps you to create a will and estate plan to ensure that your assets are distributed according to your wishes after your death.
- A corporate director who oversees the management of a corporation and represents the interests of the shareholders.
- A pension plan administrator who manages the assets of a pension plan on behalf of the participants.
If you are considering hiring a professional to provide financial or legal services, it is important to make sure that they are a fiduciary. You can ask the professional directly if they are a fiduciary and what their fiduciary duties are. You can also ask for references from other clients.
An example of a company that provides Fiduciary Services is My Swiss Company who provide a range of services including Swiss resident director services.