The Bank of NT Butterfield & Son has set up a separately incorporated trust company in the Cayman Islands to provide personal and corporate trust services, the Bermuda-headquartered firm said yesterday.

The new entity is called Butterfield Trust (Cayman) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Butterfield Bank (Cayman) Limited. Trust and fiduciary services were previously provided in Cayman under the auspices of the latter, a statement from the firm said.

Butterfield has provided Cayman-domiciled trust and fiduciary services since setting up operations in Cayman as Butterfield Trust in 1967.

“The formation of a trust company that operates separately from the bank is reflective of the increasing importance clients place on the independence of trustees, and is consistent with Butterfield’s operating model in other jurisdictions from which it provides trust and fiduciary services: The Bahamas, Bermuda, Guernsey, Switzerland and New Zealand,” Butterfield said in the statement.

As part of the venture, Brian Balleine has been appointed as managing director of BTCL Other members of the BTCL board are: Rosalie Jamieson, head of corporate and institutional; Peter Walker, head of private clients; Conor O’Dea, managing director, BBCL and senior executive vice president – international banking at Butterfield; and Bob Moore, executive vice president and head of group trust at Butterfield.