People top technology in the trust business
Trusts is one area of the law that will retain its human element rather than defer to artificial intelligence, a leading lawyer told attendees at a conference organised by the Bermuda Bar Association.
Ben Adamson, a director in the dispute resolution practice at Conyers, said: "Trusts remain fundamentally analogue in a digital age. If you think about what trust deeds are, they are pieces of paper still signed with wet ink, and still kept in a vault. That has not changed."
He added: "The foundations of trust are based in equity, and are therefore very difficult to digitise.
"You have a trust deed that's kept in a vault. It's signed. Imagine trying to put all that on a blockchain. You never would.
"This is a very analogue industry and analogue space and I think it will remain so."
Mr Adamson said artificial intelligence will not replace trustees in the decision-making process.
He added: "That won't happen, and can't happen, in the context of trusts. It will remain fundamentally analogue. Trustees cannot delegate their decision-making to a machine. They can't; not allowed to.
"They could maybe use it as a cross-check, but they cannot delegate."
Mr Adamson was sitting on the panel “Trusts at the Bench, Bar and Business in the Digital Age“ conference at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club organised by the Bermuda Bar Association.
He was joined on the panel by Keith Robinson, a partner in Carey Olsen's dispute resolution and trusts and private wealth practice, and Charmaine Tucker, group head of trustee services at Lombard Odier. Dwayne Caines moderated the panel.
The popularity of Bermuda's insurance industry with young jobseekers has come at the expense of the island's trusts sector.
Keith Robinson, a partner in Carey Olsen's dispute resolution and trusts and private wealth practice, said that the Bermuda chapter of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners is trying very hard to encourage young people in the jurisdiction to be interested in becoming administrators, trust officers and senior executives in the trusts industry.
He added: "We've a real problem with having a shrinking industry, and not having enough young people finding it attractive. Everybody wants to be in insurance.
"It's actually a very interesting industry, but hard to sell to the next gen."
Mr Robinson was speaking on the panel “Trusts at the Bench, Bar and Business in the Digital Age” conference at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club organised by the Bermuda Bar Association.
He was joined on the panel by Charmaine Tucker, group head of trustee services at Lombard Odier, and Ben Adamson, a director in the dispute resolution practice at Conyers. Dwayne Caines moderated the panel.
Ms Tucker said: "Recruitment is one of the most difficult things that we have in the industry."
She said there are many different aspects to being a trust administrator, trust officer, or trust manager beyond the administrative parts of it.
However, Ms Tucker added: "But persons just in Bermuda, what we find is they're going into insurance."
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