David Frier

Capital Trustees Limited, an owner-managed trust company based in Gibraltar, has been named Trust & Estate Service Provider of the Year in Gibraltar at the Corporate INTL Global Awards 2025. Under the leadership of Managing Director David Frier, the firm provides a broad range of trustee and fiduciary administration services to high-net-worth individuals and corporations, built around a philosophy that its independence is its clients' advantage.

The firm's defining characteristic is its independence from financial institutions and law firms. Free of institutional links, Capital Trustees can offer clients an optimal choice of investment strategies and advisers, allowing them either to continue working with their existing professionals or to draw on the firm's own network of tax specialists, legal counsel, bankers and investment professionals. This structural independence distinguishes it from trust operations tied to banks or larger groups, where product and adviser choices may be more constrained.

Capital Trustees delivers trustee and fiduciary administration solutions spanning trust management, estate services and professional trustee functions. Its approach is deliberately personal: the firm emphasises taking the time to understand each client's needs and ensuring that engagements are director-led, so that experienced principals provide effective oversight of the arrangements in their care. Transparent fee structures reinforce this client-centred model, giving those it serves clarity and confidence about the cost of the services they receive.

The management team comprises the majority owners of the company, all of whom are professionally qualified and bring an established track record to their work. This alignment of ownership and day-to-day management means that the people responsible for client relationships also have a direct stake in the firm's reputation and standards — an arrangement that supports continuity and accountability in the long-term stewardship that trust and estate work demands.

Capital Trustees is authorised as a Professional Trustee by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission, operating under permission number 12932. Gibraltar has long been an established international finance centre with a well-regarded regulatory regime, and authorisation by the Commission reflects the firm's standing as a properly regulated fiduciary services provider. For international clients, that regulatory foundation, combined with Gibraltar's position within a respected legal framework, offers reassurance when placing assets into trust or arranging for their administration.

Trust and estate services sit at the heart of long-term wealth planning, providing structures through which families and businesses can hold, protect and pass on assets across generations. The role of a trustee is one of considerable responsibility, calling for diligence, discretion and sound judgement over many years. Capital Trustees' emphasis on director-led engagements, professional qualification and genuine independence positions it well to meet these expectations and to act as a dependable steward for its clients' interests.

The Corporate INTL award recognises Capital Trustees as a leading trust and estate service provider in Gibraltar and reflects the quality of the fiduciary administration it delivers under David Frier's direction. For high-net-worth individuals and corporations seeking an independent, regulated and personally managed trustee, the firm offers a considered and client-focused alternative rooted in one of Europe's established finance centres.