Canada-based CI Financial Wealth, a subsidiary of CI Financial Corp, launches a new trust business, which is based in South Dakota.

This week, CI Financial Wealth has announced the launch of CIPW Trust, a South Dakota-chartered trust company. 

CIPW advisors across the US offer corporate trustee services to clients through CIPW Trust.

“The establishment of CIPW Trust is an important advancement for our firm and enhances our ability to provide a superior client experience,” said Andrew Holmberg, executive vice president and head of client solutions at CIPW. “With CIPW Trust, we developed a flexible advice-centered model in which tailored trust solutions are integrated into a client’s overall wealth plan. This holistic approach is key to providing our clients with comprehensive, high-quality wealth solutions."

CIPW Trust’s approach is to use a directed trust model in which CIPW Trust administers the trust while responsibility for investing the trust’s assets remains with the advisor team. Additionally, CIPW Trust can administer complex trust structures, including various types of investments, business interests, and interests in natural resources, the firm said. 

CIPW first applied for a South Dakota trust charter last year in recognition of the value of a corporate trustee solution to meet the complex and distinct planning needs of its ultra-high net worth and high net worth client families.

CI Financial has bought a host of US wealth firms, such as RIAs, in one of the most dramatic examples of merger and acquisition moves in the space over the past few years. The Toronto-headquartered group has, as a result, created CI Private Wealth, a business based in Miami. The RIA industry is waiting to see if CI Financial goes ahead with plans to float this business on the stock market in the wake of Focus Financial’s negotiations to go private via a sale to private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. (See an article here.) So far, CI Financial says the IPO remains on track although no timetable has been set.

CI Financial said the CIPW Trust business is another example of how CIPW is leveraging its size and scale to develop additional industry-leading support and solutions for its clients.