STEP Launches Private Client Awards

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

06 March 2006

The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners has launched the first STEP Private Client Awards to recognise the professionals who service the world's expanding rich list.

The new awards will highlight excellence among private client solicitors, accountants, barristers, bankers and trust managers, and will recognise others who service the industry, like publishers and investment managers. They will also pinpoint the best and worst Government initiative of the year.

Nominations were thrown open at a reception held by STEP in London on March 1 and will close on 31 May 2006. They will be judged by leading lights in the private client world, supported by a panel of internationally renowned lawyers, accountants, bankers, barristers and trust companies.

Last evening's private launch event was held at auctioneers Bonhams and was sponsored by MeesPierson Intertrust.

Wilson Cotton, Chairman of the judging panel, said, "The STEP Private Client Awards are a symbol of the confidence and growth of the private client profession. Like STEP, these awards are unique, recognising those across the professions in the UK and around the world. Our profession is now far better trained and more highly sophisticated.

STEP's knowledge network has a crucial role in helping the industry take advantage of the opportunities offered by ever more complex family arrangements, increasing global wealth and ageing populations."

Bas Schreuders, CEO of MeesPierson Intertrust, said, "As the industry grows more sophisticated, MeesPierson Intertrust recognises the need for the gold standards of excellence set by STEP through its education and awards
programme."

The shortlist will be published on 1 August 2006, and winners will be revealed and awards presented at a black-tie ceremony and dinner on 26 September 2006 at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London. Details of awards, entry criteria, nomination forms, sponsorship and table booking are at www.step.org/awards.

The awards are already attracting widespread interest from sponsors, including GAM, RBC, Bristol and West and the British Virgin Islands International Finance Centre. The Association of Corporate Trustees (TACT) is an industry supporter.

The world's high-net-worth wealth grew strongly in 2004 for a second consecutive year, increasing 8.2 percent to $30.8 trillion, according to the 2005 World Wealth Report issued by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini in June 2005.

This increasing wealth, together with a growing need for advice to deal with changes in family circumstances, means an increasingly vital role for professional advisers. Indeed, some 73 per cent of those in the private banking and wealth management sector expect to have annual asset growth of between 15 to 20 per cent during the next three years, according to a separate survey by accountants RSM Robson Rhodes published in May 2005.

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