Fiduciary integrity is about more than just honesty.
It is about creating structures which are able to deliver specific outcomes.
We function by the premise that trusteeship is much like ‘structural integrity’ in the field of engineering. A construction is believed to have structural integrity when it can withstand ‘impact’ from anywhere and anything, functioning adequately for its desired purposes and service life.
‘Integrity’ springs from the original Latin root ‘integrum’, which means “Intact”.
A trust has integrity when it remains intact, despite the impact of forces that may seek to sidetrack the trustees or their proper management of the assets held in trust.
With the right structure, a good trustee will never confuse “what is” with “what ought to be”, even when “what is” will work in his favor. That trustee will choose, not what the world demands, but what aligns with the provisions of the trust deed and the intentions of the settlor.