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Montaigne Trust is a 100% Swiss owned Geneva-based FINMA-licensed trustee company administered by experienced lawyers.

We provide tailor-made and pragmatic solutions to protect your assets and their transmission to the next generations.

Thanks to highly compliant structures, we help safeguard your estate in a challenging and evolving world. Our clients value our long-lasting and trustful relationships.

Solutions

Comprehensive solutions for individuals and entrepreneurial families with connections to Switzerland, Monaco, the USA (US persons or US assets) and the Middle East are offered by Montaigne Trust.

We are at Montaigne Trust committed and focused to provide solely trusts-related services. This specialisation allows us to channel all our resources into a single area of expertise, with uncompromising standards of governance, compliance, and execution.

Montaigne Trust is FINMA-licensed trustee based in Geneva, operating under the Financial Institutions Act (FinIA).

Structuring & Establishment

We design and establish discretionary or fixed, revocable or irrevocable trusts, tailored to the objectives and constraints of each client.

Our work begins with a thorough understanding of the family, asset base, jurisdictions involved, tax residence issues, and governance preferences. We select the appropriate governing law, trust type, and trustee powers to achieve the desired legal and tax outcomes, while ensuring the structure remains robust under Swiss scrutiny.

Where appropriate, we also set up Private Trust Companies (PTCs), giving families more involvement in trustee governance while maintaining legal integrity. All constitutive documents (trust deed, letters of wishes, reserved powers arrangements, investment policies, protector provisions) are drafted and implemented with precision, ensuring clarity for all stakeholders — trustees, protectors, beneficiaries, and advisors.

Administration

Once the structure is established, we handle its day-to-day administration, keep the paperwork in order, take the necessary decisions, liaise with the relevant parties and document our actions.

This administrative discipline is a core differentiator: it ensures predictable governance, facilitates regulatory compliance.

Compliance & Reporting

Operating in Switzerland as a FINMA-licensed trustee requires a high standard of compliance and reporting.

We maintain accurate records, manage CRS and FATCA duties and follow a structured compliance calendar. 

This rigorous approach not only ensures compliance but also strengthens the trust’s defensibility in the face of scrutiny by tax authorities, regulators, or beneficiaries.

Banking & Assets

We manage the interface between the trust and its financial ecosystem with a focus on control, transparency, and efficiency.

We open and maintain accounts, coordinate with custodians and asset managers and plan liquidity and distributions in line with our fiduciary duties. 

Our role is supervisory and fiduciary, not managerial. We do not act as investment managers, but we set the framework and ensure it is applied with discipline.

Team

Montaigne Trust is led by a team combining legal expertise, trust industry qualifications (TEP) and regulatory experience.


Our structure reflects our philosophy: a trustee business run by professionals with legal background, governance discipline and risk awareness.

Rodrigue Sperisen

Rodrigue is the Chairman of Montaigne Trust. A Swiss attorney and partner at PBM Attorneys-at-Law Ltd, he brings extensive experience in international wealth structuring, trusts, and cross-border legal matters. As a TEP-qualified practitioner, he ensures strategic oversight and alignment with international best practices in trust management.

Hassan Barbir

Hassan is a Board Member and CEO of Montaigne Trust. He also is the deputy of the risk and compliance function. As a partner at PBM Attorneys-at-Law Ltd, he has in-depth experience in regulatory matters, tax regimes and trust governance. His role focuses on ensuring that the firm’s operations meet Swiss prudential standards and international compliance expectations.

Henri Corboz

Henri is a TEP-qualified professional with a strong background in compliance and regulatory environements. As a Board Member, he contributes to the risk and compliance oversight of the firm, ensuring consistency between legal, operational and regulatory frameworks. His dual legal and trust qualifications support the robustness of Montaigne’s governance model.

Lauriane Abanda

Lauriane is a Trust Officer with a legal background. She assists the Board and the management in the day-to-day administration of trusts, including drafting trustee resolutions, maintaining statutory records, coordinating banking matters and supporting regulatory filings. Her work ensures the legal precision and administrative discipline that characterise Montaigne Trust.

Services

Montaigne Trust carries out its activities exclusively in and from Switzerland.

 

 

Affiliation & regulation

As a regulated trustee company, Montaigne Trust adheres to Switzerland’s anti-money laundering regulations and is subject to an external yearly regulatory audit.

Montaigne Trust is monitored by SO-FIT and licensed by FINMA.