When Imperium was established in 2011, the financial services landscape looked very different. The industry was more fragmented, independent trust companies were commonplace and the regulatory environment we recognise today was still evolving. Against that backdrop, establishing a new independent fiduciary business represented both an opportunity and a calculated risk.

For founder and Group CEO David Gilmour, the ambition was relatively straightforward: to build a business around good people, strong relationships and with high standards of service.

David highlights that Imperium’s beginnings were very much a collective effort. Anne Ewing provided governance support in the early stages. Peter Snowden a highly regarded Tax Advisor provided guidance, becoming Imperium’s first Chairman. Rhona Humphreys joined Imperium around a year after launch to lead client service and provide experience to the growing team.

Those first years were not without challenges. Imperium started with the migration of around 120 trusts, but it wasn’t until the acquisition of Saltire in 2014 that the business reached critical mass. This provided an important milestone and within three years the business had growth to approximately 15 people and 250 clients.

Fifteen years later, Imperium has developed into an international group spanning multiple jurisdictions and service areas. Yet many of the principles established during those early years remain central to the business today.

One of those key principles was a willingness to embrace regulation. In 2011, well-regulated jurisdictions such as Guernsey were competing against centres able to offer cheaper services with considerably fewer regulatory requirements. At the time, increased regulation could easily have been viewed as a disadvantage.

However, the following decade changed that picture significantly. International initiatives around reporting, transparency, beneficial ownership and economic substance raised standards globally and strengthened the position of jurisdictions, such as Guernsey, that had already adopted stringent regulation.

For Imperium, regulation has ultimately been a friend rather than an obstacle. From the outset, David and the wider team recognised that doing things properly mattered. It protected clients and the business, but also the reputation on which a financial services firm ultimately depends.

This emphasis on reputation has become increasingly important as Imperium has grown internationally. Clients and professional advisers want confidence not only in the structures they establish, but in the people administering them, the jurisdictions in which they operate and the governance surrounding them.

Relationships sit alongside reputation at the heart of that approach.

Despite significant advances in technology and an increasingly complex regulatory environment, financial services remain fundamentally a people business. Clients want advisers who understand them, who are accessible and who can build relationships over many years.

Imperium’s expansion has extended those relationships internationally. The Group now has businesses across the Channel Islands, UK, Switzerland and Abu Dhabi, and David sees further international development ahead.

Perhaps one of the most significant benefits of that diversification has been the way relationships increasingly flow between different parts of the Group. A significant proportion of Imperium’s new business is now generated internally, with offices referring opportunities and expertise across jurisdictions.

Importantly, that international ambition has not changed Imperium’s commitment to independence. At a time when consolidation has transformed much of the fiduciary and fund administration industry, the Group Board remains committed to private ownership, with no current need for external finance.

Nor does international expansion mean moving away from Imperium’s roots. Guernsey will play an important role in the Group’s next phase. Its depth of experienced financial services talent means the island is increasingly well placed to support Imperium’s operations elsewhere. As businesses in jurisdictions such as Switzerland and Abu Dhabi grow operational support can be provided by established teams in Guernsey.

Looking back, David does not identify one achievement as defining Imperium’s first 15 years. Instead, he points to the successful integration of businesses, the development of strong teams and the foundations that have enabled the Group to continue evolving. Those foundations come back to what has characterised Imperium from the beginning: good operations, strong compliance, effective systems, good people and good ethics.

Fifteen years provides an opportunity to celebrate how far the business has come, and the people who helped build it. But for Imperium, it is also very much a staging point.

The business remains independent, its international footprint continues to grow and new opportunities are emerging across the Group.

The next chapter will inevitably look different from the first. The principles behind it will remain remarkably similar: relationships, reputation, independence and doing things properly.