Plante Moran in Southfield today announced Plante Moran Trust, N.A., part of its wealth management offering, has earned a national trust charter from the U.S. Treasury Department, which will allow it to expand services nationwide.
The charter comes from Treasury’s Officer of the Comptroller of Currency, which regulates national banks, and makes PMT one of only 52 nationally chartered trust banks in the country. It is one of the few connected to an accounting firm.
“We are excited to have received our national trust charter as we celebrate 20 years of providing exceptional client-focused service,” says Anthony Belloli, president and CEO of PMT. “This important designation truly extends our reach, enabling us to more easily serve our clients in the majority of states.”
Securing national trust powers will enable PMT to provide clients more easily with full fiduciary services in all states, with only a few exceptions. Previously, PMT had a Michigan trust charter as well as trust powers in Illinois and Ohio, which enabled it to serve clients in all three states but made it more challenging to provide fiduciary services to the firm’s clients in other states.
PMT has more than $2.8 billion in assets under administration, serving clients by acting as a trustee, a co-trustee, or an agent for trustee. The team at PMT states it takes a holistic, client-centered approach to trust administration, estate settlement, family office services, and foundation and charitable trust administration, providing independent, objective counsel that reduces administrative burdens and encourages healthy relationships between grantors, trustees, and beneficiaries.
Established in 2002, PMT is an independent, privately held trust-only bank that is part of the service offering of Plante Moran’s Wealth Management practice. Like other affiliates, Plante Moran Financial Advisors and Plante Moran Insurance Agency, PMT was formed in response to client needs.
“At the time, we were providing accounting, business consulting, and personal financial advisory services to clients who recognized and valued the fact that we knew business, we knew their family and we were providing a comprehensive financial strategy,” Belloli says. “When we were asked, ‘Will you be my trustee?’ we decided to establish Plante Moran Trust so we could better serve the needs of our clients.”
Securing the national charter is the next step in that process. If a client moved outside of the firm’s initial Midwest footprint, PMT had to navigate the different regulations each state had surrounding who can act as a trustee or personal representative. The national charter enables PMT to serve as a fiduciary in virtually all states, with only a few exceptions.
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