Concept
A Private Trust Company (PTC) is a company created to serve as trustee for the trusts of a single family. Instead of entrusting assets to an external professional trustee, the family establishes its own trust company and appoints to its board those it trusts: relatives, the family lawyer, an investment adviser. Control over decisions remains within the family, while the legal form of the trust is preserved.
Why It's Needed
A classic trust involves an external trustee—a bank or trust company. For a family with an active business, this is inconvenient: a professional trustee is cautious, slow to make decisions, and poorly versed in the specifics of family assets such as an operating company or venture portfolio. A PTC removes this friction because it acts only for "its own" and in most offshore jurisdictions is exempt from licensing.
Who Owns the PTC
To ensure the PTC has no individual owner-beneficiary—which would create tax and inheritance problems—its shares are typically held by a purpose trust: a purposeless trust without beneficiaries, whose sole purpose is to own this company. As a result, the PTC is not directly owned by any family member, and the structure survives generational transitions without the transfer of shares by inheritance.
Jurisdictions
In Singapore, a PTC is exempt from licensing under the Trust Companies Act if it serves only connected persons (family members and related structures), does not offer services to the public, and engages a licensed trust company for AML/CFT procedures; MAS must be notified of the status. In the Cayman Islands, a PTC is registered under the Private Trust Companies Regulations and conducts only connected trust business, where the settlors of all trusts are related to each other. In the BVI, the Financial Services (Exemptions) Regulations 2007 exempt a PTC from licensing when its activities are limited to related or unremunerated trust business, and shares are often held under a purpose trust regime under VISTA.
⚙️ A PTC gives the family control, but also responsibility: the board of directors actually performs the duties of trustee and is accountable to the beneficiaries. Therefore, an independent professional director is usually appointed to the board and governance is formalized so that decisions cannot be challenged as fictitious.
Transparency and Compliance
🔗 Related
Trusts (Singapore) · Family office · Private Foundations · Asset protection trusts · Succession planning
A PTC does not remove assets from transparency. Trust beneficiaries fall under CRS, offshore jurisdictions maintain beneficial ownership registers and economic substance rules. Exemption from licensing does not mean exemption from compliance: AML checks and due diligence are performed by an engaged licensed administrator.
🍓 A PTC is justified for large and complex family capital where control, speed of decision-making, and continuity are important. For a single uncomplicated trust, it is cheaper to hire a professional trustee.
This material is for informational purposes only and does not constitute individual advice.
Key factual claims
- Related links: Trusts (Singapore) · Family office · Private Foundations · Asset protection trusts · Succession planning · MAS: Trust Companies (Exemption) Regulations · MAS: Trust Companies Act 2005.