Member Profile

Andrew brings a wealth of experience to the table. As the managing director of Griffin Trust, he has led the company by example for the past 19 years and has a proven track record of developing solutions and setting up structures for global families in the area of tax and estate planning, working in close collaboration with clients' trusted advisors.

After reading modern languages and law at Queens’ College, Cambridge University, he qualified as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales in 1985. He also has a post-graduate Masters degree in Comparative Law from the City of London Polytechnic and a further post-graduate degree in Treuhandwesen (fiduciary profession) from the University of Liechtenstein.

Having worked as a solicitor in London and in the Turks & Caicos Islands, he moved to Liechtenstein in 1992 where he was head of the legal department and later managing director of the specialist trust companies of the Ritter & Partner Group (now known as Kaiser Partner). In 1999 he took over as owner and managing director of Griffin Trust.

Andrew is a member of the Law Society (for solicitors admitted to practise in England and Wales), the Offshore Institute, the International Tax Planning Association and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, for which he acted as Treasurer of the Swiss and Liechtenstein branch for many years. He is an honorary member of the Association of Fellows and Legal Scholars of the Centre for International Legal Studies and he is also admitted to practise as an attorney-at-law in the Turks and Caicos Islands (but does not currently hold a practising certificate).

He has contributed to publications in various media and has spoken on the subject of trusts and fiduciary services at numerous seminars and as a lecturer at the University of Liechtenstein.

EXPERIENCE AND CONTINUITY

With a firm foot in the market, Griffin Trust AG (“Griffin Trust”), founded in 1975, has been providing trust and fiduciary services for over 43 years.

We have been privately owned since inception and have a wholly owned subsidiary named Griffin Trust Services AG, with two employees based in Sargans, Switzerland, as well as an affiliated company in the United Arab Emirates called GTAG Solutions FZE.

IN THE HEART OF EUROPE

Griffin Trust is a fully licensed and regulated Trust Company in Liechtenstein and a member of the Liechtenstein Chamber of Fiduciaries.

As a renowned financial services centre and with its sophisticated regulatory environment, Liechtenstein offers economic and political stability, legal security and convenient location.

As a member of the EEA, Liechtenstein also adheres to rules laid down by the European Union and enjoys easy access to the European capital markets.

HONEST AND PERSONAL SERVICES

Griffin Trust is a boutique service provider looking after the interests of a diverse international clientele comprising:

•high net worth families,

•successful entrepreneurs, and

•corporations. Our size allows us to offer flexible solutions to our clients’ needs in a professional yet personable manner and to establish long-lasting relationships with clients and their families. Our wide-ranging expertise and experience includes asset protection, legitimate tax planning, family succession, cross-border trading, property purchase, development and sale as well as family office services.

PRESERVATION OF WEALTH

•Preserving wealth by structuring it so that loved ones or a favourite charity will receive the most of what the wealth owner is able to leave behind.

SMOOTH SUCCESSION OF WEALTH

•Ensuring that heirs have timely access to assets and avoiding the potential costs and time delays associated with distributing wealth through probate.

TAX EFFICIENT PLANNING

•Planning and organising the wealth owner’s affairs with a view to legitimately minimising taxes.

PLANNING FOR CONTINUITY

•Providing the comfort of knowing that if something were to happen, there is a trusted person ready to act in the client’s/beneficiaries’ best interests and to carry out the wishes left behind.

SPECIAL SITUATIONS

•Dealing with special circumstances that require specific instructions to care for a child with special needs or to address a unique family situation.

PRIVACY

•Keeping personal affairs as private as possible in an increasingly transparent environment.

CREATING A LEGACY

•Structuring wealth with a view to leaving a lasting legacy that withstands the test of time, including continuity of family businesses and charitable giving.

HELPING ENTREPRENEURS

•Setting up business structures in various jurisdictions and facilitating cross-border trading.

LEGITIMATE PROTECTION OF ASSETS

•Contingency planning to safeguard against what could go wrong.

•Robust structuring of assets to protect from claims by different parties.

ADHERENCE TO REGULATORY STANDARDS

•Keeping oversight in a world of complex regulatory rules and maintaining the structure’s compliance.

GOVERNANCE

•Advising on the family’s governance and how this may impact their long-term success.

•Assisting entrepreneurs with business governance.