A unit of LPL Financial (LPLA) that focuses on trusts said Tuesday that it would work more with its parent company and affiliates to further improve sales and asset growth while hiring more executives and trust officers. In the past three years, the Cleveland-based Private Trust Co. says it has boosted the number of administered accounts by 25%.
PTC currently provides trust-administrative services for more than $935 million in individual and family assets and also serves as custodian for $74 billion in IRA assets.
"The trust and estates sector is witnessing a significant evolution as clients increasingly opt to work with independent advisors who can bring flexibility and customization to the management of trust assets," Bethany Bryant (left), president of PTC, said in a press release.
According to Bryant, clients with intergenerational estate-planning needs "don't want one-size-fits-all products or a limited universe of wealth management funds," so PTC offers them an open architecture model of fiduciary services.
The trust-administration firm aims to "enable—and encourage—clients to maintain their relationships with their trusted financial advisors, while we serve as trustee or co-trustee," she explained. "This enables financial advisors to provide a more robust offering of wealth management services and to better maintain intergenerational relationships when assets are held in trust and passed down to beneficiaries."
With its plan to grow more by working with its parent company, PTC executives and trust officers hope to take advantage of the network of over 13,100 affiliated independent financial advisors, roughly 685 financial institutions and 4,500 advisors licensed with insurance companies doing business with LPL. And LPL executives are embracing this approach.