National Advisors Trust to Provide Trust Services for Mercer Advisors

National Advisors Trust Company, which claims to be the nation’s largest independent RIA-owned trust company, announced Monday that it has been chosen by Mercer Advisors to provide trust and trustee services for its clients.

NATC was founded in 2001 and $8 billion in assets under administration through 135 RIA firms throughout the United States. Mercer, founded in 1985, has $4.5 billion in assets under management for 3,700 clients in branch offices in 15 cities.

“We chose NATC to be our provider because they have excellent trust services and a unique business model that allows Mercer Advisors to continue to enhance and preserve client relationships,” Dave Barton, resident and CEO of Mercer Advisors, said in a statement. “NATC’s trust and trustee services are comprehensive, and they do not compete with advisors. We’ve received numerous requests from clients for trustee services, and are looking forward to using NATC’s offering. It’s a natural fit for our needs and for the needs of our clients.”

Jim Combs, CEO of NATC, added “The model of combining an RIA like Mercer Advisors with a national trust company that provides conflict-free trust administration services, is a more attractive wealth management solution when compared to other trust services options on the market today. NATC trust solutions offer RIAs the flexibility and customization they need to meet the diverse needs of their client base, while trust services offered by large bank trust companies are becoming increasingly inflexible, often requiring high asset minimums and lacking a personalized approach.”

“Clearly, being principally owned by RIAs, we understand the RIAs’ need to be able to offer a wide range of personalized trust services,” Combs continued. “RIAs want to be named in trust documents as the investment advisor so they can honor clients’ requests to continue managing client assets when assets pass to family members. That kind of continuity and high-touch service can only be achieved by working with a non-competitive trust partner like NATC.  We see this trend growing, and expect it to continue in the coming decade.”