A private bank or a corporate trustee holds one of the highest duties the law recognizes — and clients and beneficiaries rarely see the account the way the institution runs it. When a bank trust department over-concentrates a position, fails to diversify what it inherited, or steers you into its own products, the resulting loss can be a breach of fiduciary duty.
Domestic and U.S.-affiliated foreign private banks and bank trust departments owe duties defined by state trust law and, where they manage assets, by investment-management fiduciary standards. The conduct below recurs across institutional trustee matters.
A trustee's duty to diversify trust assets is one of the clearest obligations in trust law. A corporate trustee that held a concentrated inherited position — often the founder's own company stock — without diversifying can be liable for the loss that concentration produced.
Single-position or single-sector concentration a prudent fiduciary would not have allowed, measured against the trust's purpose, the beneficiary's needs, and the prudent-investor standard the institution was bound to follow.
Lines of credit collateralized by concentrated holdings that exposed the client to forced liquidation at the worst possible time — a recurring private-bank failure where the lending relationship drove the investment posture.
Undisclosed steering of trust and private-bank clients into the institution's own funds, structured products, or affiliated vehicles — a conflict of interest that breaches the duty of loyalty.
Trust and private-bank claims are not limited to the original account holder. The universe of proper claimants — and defendants — is part of the early strategy.
Current and remainder beneficiaries harmed by a corporate trustee's investment conduct, including those who never selected the trustee and inherited its decisions.
Individuals and families whose managed accounts, discretionary mandates, or advisory relationships with a private bank produced concentration, FX, or structured-product losses.
Successor trustees and personal representatives pursuing recovery for the trust or estate against a predecessor institutional trustee whose administration caused the loss.
Family entities and single-purpose vehicles that engaged a private bank or trust company under an engagement letter defining duties the institution then failed to meet.
Initial inquiries are reviewed personally and treated as confidential whether or not we ultimately work together. We respond to substantive case inquiries within one business day. There is no cost or obligation associated with the initial review.
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