Inspire Trust Company, N.A. was founded as a startup national bank and trust company designed to meet the needs of people receiving proceeds from personal injury matters. Additionally, it provides customized and comprehensive administration and investment services for a variety of special needs and settlement trusts.
“Inspire Trust is the result of the vision of veterans in the settlement industry, who wanted to create a specialized trust company to administer the trust and manage the investments of people who have been injured and awarded a settlement,” said Michael Cannella, Chief Regulatory Officer for Inspire Trust. “They saw the need to create a new approach to fill this gap. By designing a bank focused on the unique needs of this client group, we can provide a very different type of service than a bank that does not specialize in this area.”
Given that Inspire Trust initially marketed itself as a startup, Cannella and his team needed to focus on the technology critical to establishing their new business. “Particularly because we were going to be a virtual company, with one physical office in Nevada and people spread out across 11 states, we needed a trust accounting partner to support our unique situation,” Cannella noted. “Thus, having a nimble and flexible managed services component was going to be a primary requirement.”
As a result, Cannella and his team surveyed the trust technology landscape with the key criteria of affordability, ease of use, technology reputation, and track record.
“We looked at all of the major players, and each met some of our requirements, but only SS&C Innovest met them all,” Cannella said. “As a startup, we don’t have the resources to staff for a full operational footprint, so going with SS&C was a key part of our decision. We needed a managed services offering and the technology to strengthen our team.”
“We use SS&C Innovest’s managed services each day for all of our cash transactions, money out, money in, trading, regulatory reporting, and more,” Cannella said. Additionally, due to the unique nature of how Inspire Trust leverages common trust funds as fiduciary assets, they include additional investments in client portfolios, such as tangible assets and alternatives to diversify portfolios and enhance returns. This diversification isn’t typically available for smaller portfolios and is another unique aspect that Inspire Trust can deliver to its specialized client base.
“Using common trust funds provides multiple benefits to clients and our investment operations,” Cannella notes. “Not only do we get better-personalized portfolios, but we can individually manage over 300 accounts with a small investment team. One of the key benefits of SS&C Innovest is that it can easily help us trade accounts, track activity, and provide robust reporting.”
Looking forward, Cannella is excited about bringing in the additional capabilities of SS&C’s Black Diamond Wealth Platform. “We’ve seen how amazing the Black Diamond platform is, particularly the key features for our portfolio managers. We look forward to growing into Black Diamond, and it’s great to know that, being with SS&C, we’ll be able to easily integrate. SS&C is great with integrations, such as our CRM and BPM systems; the team is always willing to help. They are very responsive to our needs.”
SS&C Innovest’s forward-thinking technology solutions and managed services are the choice of many of the industry’s largest Trust Companies, Wealth Management firms, Retirement Platforms, and Philanthropic organizations. To learn more about how the SS&C Innovest can support your unique business needs, call (800) 727-0605 or email info@advent.com.
