Clarry Benn: UNIT TRUST IS THE PEOPLE’S ‘SUCCESS STORY’

Executive Director of the Trinidad and Tobago Unit Trust Corporation (UTC), Clarry Benn on Thursday emphasised that any success Unit Trust has achieved to date, has been fuelled through joint enterprise with the people of the country. “The success story of the Unit Trust Corporation since 1982 has been the success story of the people of Trinidad and Tobago,” he asserted. “Our growth, the confronting of the challenges, the changing of the financial landscape, this springboard to a bright and prosperous future has been the product of our joint effort over the years,” Benn acknowledged as he addressed the sod turning ceremony for construction of UTC’s new Tobago Branch Office on location at the corner of Main and Castries Streets, uptown Scarborough.

The high-rise building complex which is scheduled to be completed in 12 months, is being constructed at a cost of some $14 million funded ‘in-house’ by UTC Property Development Limited. The design was done by Bynoe Rowe Wiltshire Partnership. Structural engineers are Phillips Engineering Limited; mechanical engineers — AdeB Consultants Limited; quantity surveyors — IT McLeod Partnership; and the Building Contractor is H Lewis Construction Limited. Benn recalled that when UTC opened its current Tobago branch office at the Scarborough Mall seven years ago, the Corporation boasted of a unit holding base of 123,000 and $1.3 billion in funds under management. “In a mere seven years our unit holding community now stands at 415,000 accounts and our funds under management amount to $9.3 billion.” It is envisaged that Unit Trust will pass the $10 billion mark by year’s end, Benn revealed, noting that  Unit Trust was now the third largest financial institution in TT, in terms of domestic assets under management. “This building therefore is testimony and a symbol of the growth the Corporation has accomplished over the past several years; needless to say our Tobago operations contributed handsomely to our growth momentum!” noted the UTC Executive Director.