Trust & Wealth Management Profitability

Why don’t trust and investment organizations make more money? The answers are complex and varied. They are usually rooted, however, in the industry’s origins: Most were opened as trust departments of commercial banks – not as profit centers but as an accommodation to the bank’s “best customers” and directors. This behavior led to decisions that weren’t conducive to achieving or sustaining profits.

Unfortunately, as the industry matured, these decisions and behaviors didn’t change to keep pace with the changing motives of managing a trust and investment business. The “institutional memory” of the trust and investment business has carried forward and institutionalized practices that inhibit an orderly and consistent march toward profitability. Even those departments that are profitable are often less profitable than they could be!

So, what do we do about it? The professional staff of Pohl Consulting and Training, Inc. has studied – and countered – these behaviors for thirty years. We analyze each individual operation in the following ways:

• What type of business should you solicit?
• What type of business should you accept?
• When are custody accounts profitable?
• How do fee schedules impact profitability?
• Is there a right way to manage irrevocable life insurance trusts?
• Does it make sense to favor trusts over agencies?
• How many employees are enough?
• What investment structure makes sense for your organization?
• When does it make sense to accept lower profit business?
• How can you measure employee productivity?
• How should you handle employee benefit plans (if at all)?
• When and how do you outsource functions – and which ones?
• When and how do you resign from accounts?
• How do you eliminate unprofitable accounts – even if they’re irrevocable?
• When do you charge extraordinary fees? How do you “sell” them?

With a proven track record spanning four decades, the consulting services of Pohl Consulting and Training, Inc. can establish firm answers to help guide your company through the changing marketplace so that you can thrive, not just survive.