What part does trust play in your client relationships when it comes to becoming a corporate services partner? Any concrete examples?

Unlike most professional service firms, we prefer to wholly support our clients; for those who appreciate that service.

This means we take care of a vast majority of a client’s UK needs. Opening a bank account in the UK can take two or three months from start to finish for a simple UK ownership structure where an overseas parent company is involved. It also takes around a week or two to set up internet banking once the bank account is actually established and opened. We know this can be cumbersome, so once the anti-money laundering/know your client checks are complete we can open a designated client trust account (CTA).

The name is self-explanatory; not a general client account but an account specifically in our client’s name. Usually the account name is “PB Ltd RE Client X”. This can be used to receive and transmit funds on our client’s instructions. We are at this point ‘holding’ client funds and ensuring we know the source of those funds and where the funds are being sent to is paramount to this service. For some clients, we provide an enhanced service, such as director and trustee support.

Some clients benefit from further knowledge and skills gained over the years and this can be passed on by way of these services. The role of Director comes with its own duties and obligations above and beyond a Company Secretary (legal officer) – which is a role in which most of our clients engage us to provide where there is no UK based/domiciled director.

Operating a company in the UK is usually unknown for most of our clients. They either decide to set up a UK company because they have UK clients, or know there is a market presence for them to establish a UK entity.

The information above is sourced from the recent IR Virtual Series ; Establishing Foreign: Companies with Clarity Enhancing understanding of KYC/AML regulations