Finsbury Trust unveils rebrand and new offices as it targets future growth

Finsbury Trust, a mainstay of Gibraltar’s financial services sector with roots stretching back four decades, officially unveiled new offices last week, as the company embarks on the next phase of its evolution with an eye on opportunities in emerging sectors where business and technology converge.

The independent, privately-owned company has moved from offices in Leanse Place to the former Hambros Bank building on Line Wall Road, which Finsbury purchased and refurbished, including a new extension.

They were formally opened last week at an event attended by guests including representatives from the legal and financial services sectors, alongside dignitaries including the Governor, Lieutenant General Sir Ben Bathurst, and Chief Minister Fabian Picardo.

The bright, open-plan offices in Finsbury’s new home are designed with staff in mind and equipped with a large kitchen and dining area, ample exterior terraces and even a shower room for employees.

On a wall, a large map of the world - created using green, soil-less plants that drew moisture from the air - offers a reminder that Finsbury is firmly plugged into the global business community.

The firm’s origins are in international tax and estate planning, but over the years this has evolved in parallel with greater international focus on regulation.

As financial services changed, Finsbury rapidly established itself as a leading trust and corporate services firm in Gibraltar, helping to shape the new landscape.

“Our business thrived by building trusted relationships with international clients and through the dedication of exceptional staff, many of whom devoted much of their professional lives to Finsbury,” said Benjy Cuby, the company’s chief executive officer.

“We evolved from working with clients who held property in Spain and Portugal, to serving families and businesses in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and beyond, supporting them in managing their interests across diverse industries.”

“The story of Finsbury Trust is the story of the rise and growth of Gibraltar’s financial services industry.”

Over the years, Gibraltar’s financial services sector has changed from a high-volume, low value-added, low-price model, to one where there is a lower number of managed entities but much more added value in an increasingly complex international regulatory environment where governance and compliance are vital.

“We're not the city of London,” Mr Cuby said.

“We don't need big business. We need a little bit of good business, that's all.”

“So in order to thrive, we will always find the way of doing good business.”

As Gibraltar’s financial services sector introduced more rigorous regulations and aligned itself with EU standards in the years prior to Brexit, Finsbury continued to adapt its services, bolstering its offering to clients in critical areas such as compliance and governance.

It also diversified its client portfolio, working with investment funds, limited partnerships, private trust companies, foundations and trading businesses including in the online gaming sector, reflecting the increasing sophistication of Gibraltar’s business landscape.

This is constant work in progress and, looking ahead, Finsbury’s work continues to expand in areas such as crypto businesses and digital asset investment, reflecting the blockchain industry’s new era of maturity.

Finsbury, which is regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission, is also increasingly supporting artificial intelligence companies that operate globally but require a strategic base.

Mr Cuby said Gibraltar is uniquely positioned to operate as “a forward-thinking, efficient and stable” jurisdiction for the tech-driven companies of the future, a growth area that Finsbury aims to be at the heart of.

“Today we serve a highly diverse and mostly international client base,” Mr Cuby said.

“Our clients are property owners and developers, football players, Gulf state ruling families, technology entrepreneurs, online gaming executives, industrialists, art collectors, philanthropists, family offices, fund managers and more.”

“We aim to provide them with all the fundamental building blocks of business.”

“Whether it's a company or trust or a foundation or whatever structure it is, we want to be the ones setting these up, administering them, managing for the long term.”

One of the more interesting challenges facing the company is how to bring in traditional business protocols and structures to unstructured business ideas in fast-paced sectors such as crypto and de-centralised finance, where entrepreneurs are tapping opportunities created by new technologies.

“All they want to do is set up a company to do this business, and we come in and what we do is, essentially, all the business services,” Mr Cuby said.

And while most of Finsbury’s growth continues to come from existing relationships where discretion remains a key element of the mix, “we are now thinking out of the box”.

“Because there’s a lot of business that can come in that is non-traditional, that is coming more from people who perhaps haven’t worked in international jurisdictions like this or are not used to the corporate environment because they are physicists, computer scientists or whatever it is,” Mr Cuby said.

“So in many cases, we have to reach out to them now [and] we’re opening up a bit more, because our business mix is changing.”

Mr Cuby acknowledges that there are many other jurisdictions that offer similar services, even if “every jurisdiction is a little bit different”.

In attracting new business, often through personal introductions and referrals through an already extensive client and contacts base, or as existing clients evolve into new areas of business, a key factor is that “really, they know us”.

“So often, you go with who you know,” Mr Cuby said.

“It’s about relationships.”

Finsbury’s clients “are very active, they’re transactional, they are building businesses”.

To reflect this dynamic environment, the company announced a rebranding alongside unveiling its new offices, freshening its logo and online presence to reflect this latest phase of its story.

The rebrand, handled by Gibraltar-based agency Kenshō, seeks to honour the traditions at the heart of the business while giving Finsbury’s identity a modern look.

“Our look may be refreshed, but our purpose remains the same, to provide corporate, trust and fund services with the highest standards of excellence,” Mr Cuby said.

“These are the building blocks of business, and this is where we like to be.”

“This rebrand is not about change for the sake of change, it is about reflecting who we have become and the future we are building.”

Alongside redefining the business and positioning it for new opportunities, Finsbury itself is embracing emerging technologies in its own processes.

“With the digital and AI shift, the way we work is changing, moving from manual-intensive methods to paperless, tech-enabled, real-time services and cloud-based solutions that streamline operations and dramatically improve client experiences,” Mr Cuby added.

COMMUNITY ROOTS
Finsbury Trust can trace its roots to the mid 1980s, when David Cuby, Mr Cuby’s father and co-founding chairman of the business, returned to Gibraltar to work for Valmet Gibraltar, initially in a one-room office in Don House, later in larger premises in Horse Barrack Lane.

One of its first hires was a young man called Subash Malkani, who now, 38 years on, is Finsbury’s vice chairman and finance director.

As the company continued to grow, it moved to larger premises in Neptune House in Marina Bay and, by 1990, to offices in Leanse Place.

The following year, the company acquired a competitor business called Finsbury Management Services, headed by Mr Cuby’s cousin, the late David Hassan.

The two Davids and Mr Malkani would go on to carry out a management buyout in 2003, renaming the business Finsbury Trust.

With an eye on succession and a background in investment banking, Benjy Cuby joined the company in 2012 as Head of Business Development. Now, as CEO and 33 years after the company moved into Leanse Place, he led the transition to the new offices on Line Wall Road.

Mr Malkani is among numerous members of staff who have been with the Finsbury for decades, people like Maurice Perera, corporate services director, who has been with the business for over 40 years, or William Cid de la Paz, trust services director, who has given 38 years’ service to the firm.

“Over the years, people started talking about the ‘Finsbury family’, and it wasn’t just a phrase, it was real,” Mr Cuby said.

“Finsbury was rooted in family values and was run by first cousins who believed that success comes from treating every employee like family.”

“And like a close-knit family, we like to stick together.”

“This kind of loyalty and continuity is rare. It is what has allowed us to endure and to thrive.”

The company has some 75 employees and they range from accountants to company secretaries, company managers, people with banking backgrounds and an in-house IT department.

In hiring, Finsbury looks not just for accountants and company managers but also for people with other academic backgrounds, because ultimately, “you’ve got to be an interesting person to speak to a client”.

“One of the things that separates us from a lot of other companies is that we were able to keep staff for a long time and that's what clients want,” Mr Cuby said, adding the company hires mostly Gibraltarians.

“That continuity is huge for us. That's really what allowed us to build the business.”

CAUTIOUS TREATY OPTIMISM
Like many others in the business community, Mr Cuby welcomes the agreement for a UK/EU treaty on Gibraltar’s post-Brexit future.

He said the prospect a free-flowing border is “fantastic” news, as will be the normalisation of relations with Spain.

But like everyone else, he is awaiting the legal text of the treaty to pore over its fine detail – “tear it apart,” he said, only half in jest – and understand the implications for Finsbury’s business.

Ultimately though, Mr Cuby is confident that Gibraltar will thrive, as will Finsbury.

The investment in new offices underlines that commitment enduring commitment to this community.

“There’s an entrepreneurial zeal over here in Gib, there's something here that says, ‘we can do this’, whatever is thrown at us,” he said.

“We've always risen to the challenge and approached the business in a different way, so as not to stay still.”

“We've always found ways to do business.”

“Because companies either innovate or they die. They don't do anything else, right?”

“So we always try to innovate.”