With assets in trust averaging $60M, management and investment are high-priority concerns for Community Trust.  We work with four different custodians, in slightly different capacities with each, based upon the type of trust.  Our Trust Administrators represent decades of trust management experience, during which time they have administered well over 3,000 trust accounts, ranging in size from tiny Pooled Trust accounts for disabled seniors, to individual trust accounts in well in excess of $1M.

To learn more about the specific Investment and Administration services that Community Trust provides, choose from the following options:

Investment

Community Trust retains the services of four different custodians, in slightly different capacities with each, based upon the type of trust.  Each custodian is a seasoned, highly professional financial entity.  Like Community Trust itself, each custodian is bound by fiduciary law to act in absolute good faith and fair dealing, the best interests of our beneficiaries with respect to the funds that they hold.

  1. Almost all of the assets in the Pooled Trust program are invested through our primary custodian, Wilmington Trust Company, a subsidiary of M & T Bank, which is a $130B full-service financial institution based in Buffalo, NY.  Funds at Wilmington Trust are held in a money market account and in conservatively-managed mutual funds, consisting primarily of short-term bond funds.  Mutual funds are invested through omnibus positions held by Wilmington Trust for the benefit of a variety of its custodial clients.  While all of the Pooled Trust assets are managed collectively, the amount of each security that a particular beneficiary account holds is customized for that individual account.  Customization can result in very slightly different risk exposures among accounts, but these differences represent mere variations of low-risk options, due to the conservative nature of all of the Wilmington Trust investments.
  2. A small percentage of Pooled Trust assets are invested with FSC Securities, a subsidiary of AIG, Inc., one of the largest financial services companies in the world.  Our agent with FSC Securities is Duffield Financial Group, located in Concord, MA, a boutique investment advisory group that specializes in mutual fund investments. FSC Securities also serves as custodian for almost all of the funds that Community Trust has in individual trusts, which presently ranges from $5-10M.  As with funds in the Pooled Trust program, Duffield Financial Group provides investment advice for individual trust assets.  The investment profiles for individual trusts vary substantially from one to the other, based upon the age, disability, family circumstances and multiple other factors.  For accounts of significant size, the individual trust beneficiary and/or responsible party will meet with Duffield Financial Group periodically to review investment goals and returns, for the purpose of maintaining alignment of the investment profile with the needs and expectations of the beneficiary.
  3. M & T Bank (the parent company for Wilmington Trust) also provides Community Trust with a cash account that is used for distributions of the funds held at Wilmington Trust.  Because of the larger number of distributions that we make, the account at M & T has a substantial average balance, but funds flow in and out of this account very actively, as it funded only with amounts for which distribution checks have been posted.
  4. Community Trust maintains checking and/or savings accounts for a small number of individual trusts, for the purpose of check-writing.

Management

Community Trust obtains independent financial advice for managing its trust accounts from Duffield Financial Group of Concord, Massachusetts.  As a “Pooled Trust” program, these assets are managed collectively and are held in very low-risk investments that are designed to produce income.  The amount of each security that any particular trust account holds is customized for that individual account.  Customization can result in very slightly different risk exposures among accounts, but these differences represent mere variations among low-risk options.

Individual trust accounts are also advised by Duffield Financial Group.  These trusts are managed differently, because they often involve younger beneficiaries.  Unlike Pooled Trust accounts, individual trust investments are invested separately on the basis of relevant facts about the beneficiary and his or her circumstances.  Each trust is reviewed and assigned its own investment objectives, which may include income, growth and/or preservation of principal.  

Financial accounting, records of transactions, production of statement and other financial management tasks are handled by Fiduciary Technology Partners, a Connecticut company that handles accounts for 90 non-profit foundations with over $50B in assets.