FIDUCIARY DUTIES AND FINANCIAL SERVICES PROVIDERS

This article explores the scope and content of fiduciary duties and the key relationships in which they may arise in the context of financial services. In spite of the renewed popularity of fiduciary pleas in the Irish courts since the financial crisis, fiduciary duties are rarely appropriate in bank-customer relationships. Due to a high incidence of competing interests, the fundamental fiduciary duty of selfless loyalty will be suitable in only a minority of advisory-based financial services relationships. Asset managers and custodians may also be subject to fiduciary classification, although it is highly unlikely that a fiduciary classification will affect the clear statutory obligations of depositaries and managers of collective investment schemes. While the continued relevance of fiduciary law in the modern financial services sector remains clear in discrete relationships, a fiduciary classification will be inappropriate in the majority of financial services provider-customer relationships.