the INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT 39
Business
IN THE NETHERLANDS WE TRUST By Martin van Geest
Are you familiar with Citco, TMF and Intertrust? Chances are you’ve never heard of these companies before, even though these three firms count over half of the world’s hundred largest multinationals among their customers. They get surprisingly little coverage in the media, but that’s the way they like it. So what are Citco, TMF and Intertrust? They are ‘trust firms’ and part of a flourishing Dutch industry. Their main raison d’être is providing services to multinationals that want to benefit from Holland’s favorable tax climate. To be clear: these trust firms have virtually nothing to do with the trust that you might know from the United States or the United Kingdom. Americans usually think of a trust as some sort of fund that is used by wealthy individuals as part of their estate planning; the inheritance isn’t bequeathed to the heirs, but is held by a trustee for the benefit of the heirs. We all know the Paris Hilton-like trust-fund babes who live solely off the trust fund established by their parents. However, this type of trust is not recognized by Dutch law.
Photography: Correspondent Media Photo