Winner Declared in South Dakota Best Trust Company Face off

PIERRE, S.D., Oct. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Money center banks and blue-ribbon wealth management complexes are out of favor as investment advisors and family offices seek partners in the trust haven state of South Dakota they can count on to keep their clients' interests in mind.

According to a recent poll of readers of trade publication The Trust Advisor, advisors feel more comfortable working with Wealth Advisors Trust Company than any of the 13 other South Dakota-chartered options provided. With an aggregate score of 82.4%, nearly twice as many Trust Advisor readers know Wealth Advisors Trust Company and feel favorably about the company than expressed similar opinions about either Guggenheim Trust (an affiliate of global investment bank Guggenheim Partners) or Citicorp SD (an operating unit of Citigroup Inc.).  Wealth Advisors Trust Company was ranked #1 in best trust company client service per the recent poll.

"It's extremely rewarding to hear that despite some of the biggest marketing budgets on the planet arrayed against us, advisors still know our reputation and seek us out," says Christopher Holtby, a director at Wealth Advisors Trust Company. "Those who know South Dakota as a leading destination for trust accounts are evidently aware that not all vendors here are created equal."

Money from all over America has migrated to South Dakota to take advantage of the state's top-tier trust code and tax environment, beckoning dozens of wealth management firms and banks based elsewhere to follow. However, unlike rivals coming in from other states, Wealth Advisors Trust Company was chartered right in Pierre and still headquarters all its operations within South Dakota's borders.

The company has also cultivated a culture of independence (creating the SmartIRA™) and service (lowest trust officer to beneficiary ratio in the industry) that contrasts strongly against the monolithic and profit-driven models that many of its cross-border competitors pursue. With no in-house wealth management unit and no products to cross-sell into trust accounts, Wealth Advisors Trust Company is content to administer personal trusts, letting introducing advisors go on managing the underlying assets for long-term clients. This alignment of interests creates better outcomes for trust grantors, beneficiaries, their advisors and, if the poll results are any guide, the trust officers themselves.

"Advisors know that when they prosper, we thrive," Holtby says. "I'd like to see Citi make that kind of statement. But then again, Citi evidently isn't the first name advisors think of when they think about firms in South Dakota they'd like to partner with."

PRLog ID: www.prlog.org/12387166

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SOURCE Wealth Advisors Trust Company

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