Hightower Continues Expansion With National Trust Company Charter

Editorial Staff

11 April 2022

Hightower, the Chicago-based wealth management group that continues to expand via mergers and acquisitions, last week said it had won regulatory approval for a national charter for a trust company.

The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has officially approved Hightower’s application for a national charter for the new Hightower Trust Company, National Association. Launched last Friday. the trust company will provide Hightower advisors nationwide with corporate and administrative personal trust services to support clients' planning and wealth-transfer needs.

Based in Houston with offices in Chicago and Delaware, Hightower National Trust Company provides advisors with a blend of personal trust investment management, custody and safekeeping products for their high net worth and ultra-HNW clients. This includes discretionary investment management services for managed accounts and non-managed accounts, custody and escrow services, and agency services such as administrative support to other fiduciaries, principals of partnerships, limited liability companies and other legal entities.

The firm said it plans to open further offices for the trust company in Nevada and South Dakota in 2022. Both states are important trust jurisdictions.

As part of its wider offering, Hightower said advisors have access to Business Owner Succession Services or “BOSS,” a set of offerings designed for entrepreneur and business-owner clients whose companies are undergoing a merger, acquisition, sale or capital raise. Hightower provides valuations, investment banking resources, private liquidity and support with managing concentrated stock holdings, among other services. In addition, Hightower recently announced a strategic investment in Grant Tani Barash & Altman, a preeminent Los Angeles-based business management firm that provides affluent clients with personal chief financial officer services, including bookkeeping and accounting, bill payment, tax preparation and other concierge financial management capabilities.

Across 34 states and the District of Columbia, a total of 123 advisory businesses operate under the Hightower umbrella.

Access to nationwide trust services is an important tool in the box for wealth managers. For example, in January 2021 Chilton Trust company told this news service that it had won a National Trust Charter from Delaware, opening up growth opportunities.