ECSH52225 - Trust Services – What Would You Expect to See
Source: gov.uk (2025-10-28)


A trust is a way of managing assets (money, investments, land, or buildings) for people.

The relevant activity under The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLR 2017), as a provider of trust services involves the trust or company service provider (TCSP) either:
- Acting as a professional trustee themselves, or
- Arranging for another person to act as a professional trustee by way of business.
The following provides a basic example of what a trust arrangement may look like:
- A might give property to B to hold it for C.
In this simple example:
- A is the Settlor. They are the person giving property to the trust.
- B is the Trustee. They are holding the property on behalf of the beneficiary. If acting as a professional trustee directly, or arranging for another person to act as trustee by way of business, this is relevant activity.
- C is the Beneficiary. They are to benefit from the trust.
A trust can be created during the settlor’s lifetime or on death. Trusts are often created by a will. For further information on responsibilities within a trust, and different types, see: Trusts and taxes: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). (https://www.gov.uk/trusts-taxes)

Professional providers of trust services are likely to operate from office premises and have secretarial support. As they are responsible for the operation of the trusts, they will have a file for each one and they should have detailed financial information relating to bank accounts, tax returns and trust investments. These should be reviewed at regular intervals. It is quite likely that this information will be stored wholly or in part on a computer system.

Settlors often wish to appoint professionals to act as trustees, in many cases to act alongside family members. This is because a specialist trustee will understand trust law and be aware of the duties of a trustee and how to discharge them. A professional trustee will also be neutral in their dealings with the beneficiaries and thus avoid the perception of bias that may arise with family trustees.

The duties of a trustee are to act in good faith and at all times in the best interests of the beneficiaries. A trustee must ensure that trust property is invested properly. They must maintain proper accounts which show how the trust assets have been invested, whether any distributions from the trust have been made to the beneficiaries and supply them to the beneficiaries when requested.

At a compliance visit, an officer should seek to understand all TCSP services (relevant activity) conducted by the TCSP, how the TCSP has risk assessed each service alone and in combination, and how it mitigates those risks.

Record testing should span all of the TCSP services provided. For example, where a TCSP provides formation and trustee services, records should be selected where formation services have been provided, where trustee services have been provided, and where both services have been provided together.

Where the TCSP also carries out relevant activity in another supervised sector, an officer should seek to understand the business’s compliance with MLR 2017 in respect of that additional sector(s). Record testing should span all sectors of relevant services provided by the business, including where provided in combination.

General money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing risks for TCSPs can be found at ECSH52125. (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/economic-crime-supervision-handbook/ecsh52125)

At a compliance visit, TCSPs should be expected to provide an explanation for any departure from published guidance.