In an earlier version of this story, we reported that National Advisors Trust was making its services available on Schwab Advisor Services' platform. Schwab informed us that was not the case-Ed.
In separate announcements this week, National Advisors Trust and Pershing announced that they were enhancing their trust platforms to help advisors better retain and manage client assets.
At its 2012 National Advisors Trust annual conference in Washington, the RIA-owned trust company announced that trust administration services will now be available on the large custody platforms at Fidelity and TD Ameritrade, in addition to the services offered on National Advisors' proprietary custody platform, AdvisorDesk.
Pershing, a BNY Mellon company, announced that it has further enhanced its Trust Network with the additions of BOK Financial and Independent Trust Co. of America. Trust Network is Pershing's open-architecture platform that allows broker-dealers and independent RIAs to offer their clients a range of personal trust services and solutions from trust companies.
Earlier in August, Genworth Financial Trust Co. announced the launch of Trust Connections, a program designed to help independent advisors grow their businesses by giving them access to three trust companies that specialize in serving clients of independent advisors.
Custodian Trend
These platform enhancements from National Advisors, Pershing and Genworth all highlight a new custodian trend: helping advisors retain trust assets by offering them easy access to powerful custody platforms.
"The RIA business model typically involves utilization of multiple custodian platforms in the management of their clients' portfolios," said Ron Ferguson, CEO of National Advisors Trust, in a statement. "Providing 'custody platform of choice' trust administration services on Fidelity and TD Ameritrade or National Advisors Trust makes it easy for our advisor firms to manage their trust accounts on any of those platforms."
