As a result of today's climate, in which professional
trustees are held to increasingly high standards by regulators,
courts and clients alike, the importance of fiduciaries recording
their decisions has never been greater. In circumstances where a
court's ruling may turn on the content (or lack thereof) of
trustee minutes, and where regulatory authorities are entitled to
scrutinise all available evidence of a licensee's conduct with
a view to forming a judgment as to its corporate governance and
compliance with AML/CFT legislation, this article considers, from a
Guernsey perspective, why it is true to say that "every minute
counts".
Fiduciary decisions
Written records of a trustee's deliberations as to whether
to exercise a discretionary power conferred upon it in its capacity
as trustee, and if so in what manner, are recognised by Guernsey
law to be of a different nature to general trust
"information", which may include trust accounts, the
trust instrument and
