A board member and Group Head of Business Lines at Equity Trust and Joint MD of the trust and fiduciary service company’s Dutch office, Floris has seen major changes since joining in 1994. Equity Trust had less than 60 staff at the time with offices in The Netherlands and Curaçao, but has since expanded globally to such an extent that it now has offices in more than 30 countries and around 1,250 employees.
In 1994 Equity Trust was part of a Dutch law firm, some of whose senior partners raised their eyebrows at the prospect of a relative youngster – Floris was aged 39 at the time – taking the reins from his 64-year-old predecessor. The style of the company was quite ‘old-school’, with partners happy with the company's relative conservatism and recounting colourful tales during the company's annual meetings.
Keeping the ship steady and maintaining the company’s high reputation was the brief for Floris when joining. It was in 1997, when Equity Trust was sold by the law firm to the Dutch private bank Insinger de Beaufort, that the international expansion of the company moved into top gear.
Around 2000, Equity Trust established a powerful Asian presence through the acquisition of Hong Kong trust companies Brumby and Mattheson Trust, and in 2003 the company became independent after being bought by the UK-listed venture capital firm Candover.
Subsequent acquisitions have included the trust operation of Standard Chartered Bank in 2004, the trust operation of ABN Amro in 2005, the domiciliation and company management business of Ernst & Young in 2006 and Custom House Fund Services in 2008. The ABN Amro acquisition was particularly significant, considerably boosting Equity Trust’s staff number and revenue.
Floris is very happy with the role he and other key executives were able to play in turning Equity Trust into the well recognised and sizeable player that it is today. And justifiably so.
“The group now displays a healthy and sustainable profitability which means we are able to increase our wingspan and retain the right calibre of staff,” he says. “This follows the example of the Dutch office, which has consistently performed at or above budget over the past 15 years, becoming over time a significant contributor to the group’s overall revenue and EBITDA.
“The focus is not on short-term gains or profits, but on creating a platform that offers the right infrastructure for our clients to entrust their multi-jurisdictional business interests to us, in its turn resulting in the ability to generate a sustainable and growing EBITDA level.”
Floris, who was closely involved in negotiations with Candover to achieve independent status for Equity Trust, stresses the importance of this move: “Historically trust companies were linked to banks, but now we’re seeing a shift to independent ownership. More than 80 per cent are now independent, with the remaining 20 per cent expected to shrink further.”
He adds: “Independent organisations can be advisers of real value to the client. There’s no forced cross-selling of other financial product lines to clients. Private individuals want to see their assets grow and have a deep-rooted relationship with their trustees, and not feel pushed into anything.
“Likewise our corporate client base appreciates the desirability to maintain a certain distance between the management of their (often financing and holding) entities and the financing of their operations by professional lenders like banks.”
With independence from banks and law firms, and ownership by a private equity company, came a new way of working as well as new operating dimensions for Equity Trust. Floris says: “Growing a business to become a player of a meaningful size is a highly stimulating challenge.
“We’ve been able to take a fair share of the consolidation cake, and, with the likelihood of the consolidation game intensifying further in the years to come, we are determined to continue in the spirit of growing our size, footprint and product offering.”
The emphasis for Floris has been on fostering long-term relationships rather than seeking a quick buck. He is therefore very pleased by the fact that many employees of other trust companies have told him that Equity Trust’s culture to cultivate relationships with intermediaries and clients over a long period of time is something they aspire to, if not envy.
Floris is responsible for all five of Equity Trust’s product lines globally – these are Corporate Services, Private Clients, International Incorporations, Fund Services and Structured Finance.
He is charged with overseeing the regional and product line Heads at the company. “In this business you’ve got all types of challenges, like staffing, sales, changes in legislation – that sort of thing. All key elements of the business have their own Heads, but sometimes there are more things on the plate than someone can digest. That’s where my team and I come in, either as a sounding board, or to actually support them as necessary.”
Floris’ workload includes the position of MD of Equity Trust’s Dutch office, a role he shares with Jaap van Burg, and he also focuses on the Japanese client portfolio, which includes a number of large quoted Japanese enterprises who use Dutch structures administered by Equity Trust, a reflection of the hands-on attitude that is part of Equity Trust’s culture and success.
Asked about the success of Equity Trust in his native country, Floris explains: “The Netherlands has many tax agreements and treaties (DTAs) which make it attractive for intermediate holding and finance companies, especially combined with an also otherwise proper professional infrastructure including the availability of Advance Pricing Agreements and other internationally-oriented professionals such as lawyers, fiscal advisers and accountants.
“The taxation rules are very sophisticated, especially for Corporate structures, and require close co-operation with the fiscal authorities and other third parties, including specialist tax advisers, involved. This therefore asks for well-educated counterparts at the level of the trust company involved with such structures throughout the entire process, from incorporation through liquidation, hence resulting in a significant amount of time to be spent on these structures by our Trust Officers.
“We have to offer real value to our clients at all times – especially since what we do isn’t tangible, or sexy, it’s not like selling eye-catching cars or fine art, however there is a clear and measurable financial value for our clients in the structures we run on their behalf, and it’s our challenge to permanently demonstrate this to them, from the very moment they join us throughout the period that their structures are active and managed by us. Since we play a pivotal role throughout the life-cycle of these structures, clients come to us and stick with us.”
Travelling to meet clients remains important, and where possible Floris will combine such client meetings with trips to visit some of Equity Trust’s offices around the world, and vice versa, in order to keep abreast of the global picture and maintain a good rapport with colleagues and clients/ advisers. However, the majority of his time is spent in Amsterdam. As he points out: “Today’s communication devices mean there’s a lot that can be achieved from behind one’s desk, in a more time- and money-efficient way, than constantly hopping from one plane to another.”
The current global economic crisis may not have made the job any easier, but Floris seems to enjoy the challenge, and has seen his fair share of economic ups and downs during his decade-and-a-half of service at Equity Trust and 25 years in the industry.
He says: “We’re well prepared for a potentially tougher ride in the latter half of 2009 and possibly the first half of 2010 because we’re in a late-cyclical business. It may therefore mean that we’ll have to work harder and fight more to get our share of the fish in the 2010 pond. We’ll need more people to go on the road and an even stronger focus on our existing clients. However, there is no doubt in my mind that in the longer-term the demand for new structures will hold up and may well grow further.”
Whatever the future does have in store for Equity Trust, you can be sure that Floris will be part of it, maintaining and steering the steady ship that he has been on for the past 15 years.