You may have heard about customers of the Philips Trust Corporation (PTC) and the impact it’s having on some current and former building society members and their families, following PTC going into administration in April 2022. We've engaged with the administrators, Kroll, who've confirmed that no customers referred by the Society had any dealing with PTC.
We want to confirm that the Marsden has never had a relationship with PTC. We didn't refer customers to The Will Writing Company, nor to PTC, for investment advice which resulted in them transferring cash savings or other assets into their trust.
Between April and November 2017, the Society referred some members to The Will Writing Company (WWC) who were part of The Estate Planning Group (EPG) which also incorporated The Family Trust Corporation (FTC). WWC offered Will Writing and associated legal services relating to Powers of Attorney and Trusts.
In November 2017, we suspended the service with the WWC when we became aware that the service offered wasn’t in line with what we’d expect. Subsequently the WWC went into administration in 2018, which led to FTC resigning as trustee for trusts that had been set up. The WWC’s assets were bought by PTC, a separate company. We believe PTC, or their representatives, wrote directly to those customers to inform them of this change and to give customer’s three options, one of which was to appoint PTC as their replacement trustee.
Where able, during late 2017/early 2018, we contacted customers and offered them an opportunity to have their documentation reviewed by an independent legal firm at no cost to themselves. Where deficiencies were found, the Society paid to have this rectified. We made a commitment to ensure that no member referred by the Society who subsequently took out services with the WWC was financially disadvantaged.
In April 2022, PTC went into administration. We've engaged with Kroll, the administrators of PTC, who've confirmed that no customers referred by the Society had any dealing with PTC.
While the Society doesn’t have any legal or regulatory liability for the events that have taken place, we stand by our original commitment to offer assistance to our members. If any member feels that they've been affected by the actions of PTC, they should contact the Society by emailing PTC@themarsden.co.uk
This page will continue to be updated.
You can find further information about what has happened via the PTC administrator Kroll’s website (external).
(The Marsden is not responsible for the content of third-party websites)
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