Seychelles: Private Trust Company (PTC)

Private Trust Companies (PTCs) are proving to be increasingly popular and are allowed in numerous international financial centres, including Jersey, BVI, Cayman Islands, Mauritius, New Zealand and Bermuda. Schedule 5 of the proposed new International Corporate Service Providers Act, 2011 (the “New ICSP Act”) reflects the succinct and clearer approach of the Cayman Islands (adapted as appropriate).

Under the proposed New ICSP Act:

• A Seychelles PTC which only conducts “connected trust business” and is registered with SIBA is exempted from the trustee licensing requirement of the ICSP Act. A annual PTC registration fee of US$800 is proposed (ie. this is for annual registration / renewal as a PTC, and is separate and distinct from the annual $100 IBC renewal fee under the proposed Companies Act, 2011)
• The test for determining whether a PTC carries on “connected trust business” for the purposes of the New ICSP Act looks solely at the relationship between the settlors/ contributors of the underlying trust assets: each settlor/contributor (of each trust of which the PTC is trustee) must be a connected person to each other. The scope of “connected person” is broadly defined; it includes relationships by blood and marriage between individuals as well as companies within the same group and certain shareholder and company relationships. There is no requirement for the beneficiaries to be connected persons. The majority of PTCs, which typically are set up by and for individual families, should satisfy the connected persons’ test without difficulty.
• A PTC must be a Seychelles IBC, whose secretary is a licensed trustee services provider and that at all times its secretary shall be a person holding a trustee services licence under the New ICSP Act.
• As a result of the above, it is equally being proposed that in view that the PTC will be an IBC under the new Companies Act, 2011, and therefore be required to have a secretary, that the secretary shall be a company which holds a licence to provide both international corporate services and trustee services.
• A PTC shall use the words “Private Trust Company” or the abbreviation “PTC” in the name by which the company is registered as an IBC under the Companies Act, 2011.
• A PTC shall not in any manner solicit or receive contributions in respect of trusts of which it is trustee, from (i) the public; or (ii) persons other than those who are, in relation to each other, connected persons.