I am in the process of opening an account for a discretionary will trust, with Metro Bank. I haven’t completed the process yet, but have been given all the documentation and an appointment for finalising it. I have to say it was a struggle to start with - I had three or four promises to call me back, but nothing happened. I had to go into a branch and make a fuss to get things off the ground - you need to find someone who knows what they’re talking about…
This is after finding that none of the other main high street banks now offer this service.
Hope this helps.
Chris
My experience is that Metro will set up trust accounts, but it can take 3-4 months of chasing and them asking for additional info.
We also use Cater Allen, but they require that you are approved as a master introducer first and are no faster than Metro.
HMRC state “Banks and building societies in the UK operate on the basis of the legal ownership and have no need to query the actual beneficial ownership”.
https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/trusts-settlements-and-estates-manual/tsem9930
The land registry has a similar stance in not requiring details of the beneficial owners.
Therefore for HMRC tax at least it does not seem necessary for Trustees to try and obtain one of the few accounts marketed as a Trust account.
I am not sure that I agree with Neil (28 February).
As part of their AML obligations the bank needs to establish to whom the monies belong. If the account holder declares them to be their own monies, rather than being held as trustee, the account may well be frozen if the bank becomes aware of the true beneficial ownership. This could open the trustee(s) to personal liability should any loss accrue to the trust as a result of the bank’s action.
Paul Saunders FCIB TEP
Independent Trust Consultant
Providing support and advice to fellow professionals
Simpson Financial will set up a trust account via Cater Allen or Skipton