Brown Brothers Harriman Trust Company is actively prepping to grow business by launching new offices in Wilmington, Del., Chicago and Boston by year-end. Additionally, it is formalizing its family office unit by the beginning of next year and recently rolled out the BBH Donor-Advised Fund Program, a first-ever charitable gift fund in conjunction with seven regional community foundations for clients’ charitable planning needs, said James Bertles, president and coo. The firm is eying Delaware as fresh terrain and will add satellite offices in Boston and Chicago where BBH has existing investment management offices. The expansion comes on the heels of the firm’s conversion of its New York trust company to a nationally chartered trust company. Bertles noted that the firm is now under the supervision of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as opposed to state bank examiners, which allows BBH to do business in all 50 states.
BBH Trust, which uses lawyers solely as trust professionals, is planning to kick off the new locales with two officers in each market including a regional trust head and a junior trust administrator.
The firm launched the BBH Donor-Advised Fund Program and created a joint venture with local community foundations in New York, California, the Carolinas, Florida, Chicago, Philadelphia and Dallas. Bertles said clients can use the customized BBH Fund and enjoy the benefits of a private foundation instead of spending resources for the creation of their own foundations. The firm, with over $32 billion in assets, has a U.S. presence in New York, Charlotte, Dallas, Palm Beach and Philadelphia. It caters to non-resident aliens, offshore trusts, and services international clients.