THE mergedPermanent Trusteesand Trust Company of Australia has announced the group’s new name — Trust. The group has outlined the four business lines it will pursue, but it has come at a cost, with 46 staff being made redundant.
The group will also offer its managed funds to groups outside the company for the first time in 100 years via platforms, with the group’s flagship imputation fund already receiving a rating byvan Eyk Researchand with two other research houses expected to release their ratings soon.
Trust managing director Jonathan Sweeney says the process of integration is not yet complete but the group has “broken the back of it and is moving into the execution phase of the work”.
Sweeney says the integration will be finished by May this year when the organisation will undertake the first strategic review of the combined group with the aim of seeing what still needs to be done.
As such he does not rule out further changes to the rebadged company’s structure and says the group “will not operate in areas in which we are not rewarded”.
“We have so far made $5 million in pre-tax savings from synergies in the group and there are further gains to be made, but there are no sacred cows in the group. We are in the honeymoon period so we may still find more surprises,” Sweeney says.
Consequently, he says each part of the group will have to justify its position within the organisation and assess whether it creates revenue.
The re-named group will boast four brands with Trust Private covering the private clients, financial planning and estate planning market, Trust Funds covering funds management, Trust Corporate covering corporate and funds services, and super covered by Trust Super.
