Cape Mutual Trust Company

Fiduciary and international structuring services for families, entrepreneurs and businesses whose interests extend across borders

Cape Town-based. Internationally experienced.

For lives and businesses that cross borders

Modern families and businesses rarely exist within a single jurisdiction. A family may live in South Africa, own businesses abroad, hold investments internationally and have beneficiaries living across several countries. Entrepreneurs operating internationally must navigate different legal systems, tax regimes, banking requirements and administrative obligations.

 

Cape Mutual helps clients bring these moving parts together. We advise on appropriate trust and corporate structures, coordinate the legal and tax expertise required to establish them, and oversee their ongoing administration through carefully selected professional partners.



One relationship
at the centre

Cape Mutual provides one experienced relationship at the centre of arrangements that may involve several professional firms, service providers and jurisdictions.

Wills & Estates

A clear, professionally prepared will helps ensure that your wishes are understood and your family is properly provided for. Cape Mutual prepares standard wills at no charge and offers a reduced executor’s fee of 2%* of gross estate assets, excluding VAT.

*Terms apply. Fee confirmed in writing before appointment.

South African Trusts

Advice and support concerning the establishment, governance and ongoing administration of South African trusts for families, business owners and private clients.

Offshore Trusts

Advice and coordination for clients who require offshore fiduciary structures because their families, assets or commercial interests extend beyond South Africa. Trusteeship and regulated fiduciary administration are provided through appropriately licensed international partners, while Cape Mutual remains the client’s South African relationship and advisory point.

International Corporate Structuring

Strategic advice for entrepreneurs, investors and internationally active businesses establishing or reorganising corporate structures across jurisdictions. Cape Mutual helps clients consider how ownership, governance, operations, banking and administration should fit together, and coordinates the legal, tax and regulatory specialists required to implement the agreed structure.

Corporate Administration

International structures require disciplined ongoing administration if they are to remain effective. Cape Mutual coordinates company secretarial, accounting, compliance and administrative services through established professional partners. We remain close to the client, monitor the overall structure and help ensure that responsibilities are properly allocated and completed.

A relationship built to last

Trust and corporate structures are not once-off transactions. They require careful administration, sound governance and advisers who understand the family, business and purpose behind the structure. Cape Mutual is built around long-term relationships rather than product sales.

One experienced relationship

Cape Mutual remains at the centre of the client’s affairs, coordinating the professionals and service providers required across jurisdictions.

Independent coordination

We work alongside appropriately qualified legal, tax, fiduciary, accounting and administrative specialists according to each client’s requirements.

Continuity across borders and generations

Cape Mutual remains at the centre of the client’s affairs, coordinating the professionals and service providers required across jurisdictions.

A note from our Managing Director

At Cape Mutual, we believe that private affairs deserve careful stewardship. The decisions surrounding a family’s wealth, estate, trusts, businesses and succession are rarely isolated decisions. They are connected — often across generations, jurisdictions and professional disciplines — and they require judgement, continuity and a clear understanding of the people behind them.

 

Our role is to provide that continuity.

 

Cape Mutual brings together the appropriate fiduciary, legal, tax, administrative and financial expertise around each client, while remaining a consistent point of contact throughout the relationship. Where specialist advice is required, we coordinate it. Where structures need to be established or maintained, we help ensure that the different parts continue to work together as intended.

 

We place particular value on discretion, clarity and long-term relationships. Clients should understand the structures created for them, the costs involved and the responsibilities of those entrusted with their affairs.

 

Cape Mutual is being built for the long term: a trusted South African institution serving individuals, families and businesses whose affairs increasingly extend beyond any single product, adviser or jurisdiction.

 

Our responsibility is simple — to look after what has been entrusted to us with care, sound judgement and an appropriate sense of permanence.

 

Shaun Burrow
Managing Director
Cape Mutual

Good Hope. In good hands.

Advice at the centre.
Specialists where they matter

Cape Mutual does not attempt to perform every specialist function itself. We remain responsible for understanding the client’s objectives, advising on the overall arrangement and coordinating implementation. Legal, tax, trusteeship, accounting, company-secretarial and other regulated or specialist services are delivered by appropriately qualified professional partners.

Notes on trusts, structuring and governance

In this section we publish useful material on trusts, structuring, governance and
cross-border administration.

Trustee duties in practice: records, resolutions and review

Choosing a jurisdistion: questions before the structure

What a South African trust can and cannot do

Start the conversation

Most arrangements begin with a straightforward conversation about your family, your business and where your interests sit. Book a time that suits you and we will take it from there.

Book a consultation

Choose an available time in the Cape Mutual diary. You will receive a confirmation and calendar invitation by email.

Appointments are held by video or at our Claremont offices.
Initial consultations are without charge or obligation.