Good news, bad news for trust departments

Fiduciary assets grew nearly 20% in 2007, A. M. Publishing reports. Total nonmanaged assets grew 17%, while managed personal trust assets grew 5%.

Revenue grew 12.5%, to a record $32 billion. Net fiduciary earnings were up 22.3% compared to the prior year, according to the FDIC.

On the other hand, Mr. Macdonald refers below to a nasty item in today's New York Times on changing trustees. A sample:

Dissatisfaction with trustees — particularly corporate trustees rather than individuals — has been growing over the last five years, those experts say. Most complaints center on investment performance, mostly because beneficiaries have become more financially sophisticated and more types of investments are now available.

Poor service — including high turnover among trust officials and phone calls that are not returned — is another common complaint.

One trust lawyer was quoted as saying that trustee complaints came to his attention about twice a year five years ago, but now are coming in every week or two.

Stories like that make the trust marketer's job very difficult indeed.