Bank trust investments are emerging as a major source of investments in the financial market. They compliment investment firms as one of the sources for investing money for profit. Some of the banks are able to make huge profits in this field. Most of the banks offer services for managing the assets of trusts these days. These trusts can be of various types, such as charitable trust, corporate trust, personal trusts etc.
The bank acts as a custodian of assets owned by the trust. The assets may include cash, equities and other investments. The banks manage these investments and often make new investments on behalf of the trust. As many trusts have huge financial resources, which need to be managed properly to make them self-sustainable, the services of professionally qualified experts are needed to manage these financial assets. Most of the good banks offer these services for a fixed fee or on a commission basis. Sometime they charge both.
Bank trust investments are generally made in gilt-edged securities or other government securities, which are relatively safer. These investments are made not for short-term gains but for ensuring a steady stream of income in the long run. The banks keep the trustees and other parties informed about all major decisions related to investments on their behalf. The market risk is generally borne by the trust only.
But there have been several scams in the past related to bank trust investments all over the world. So one has to be careful before giving a bank charge of one