Frequently Asked Questions

Client Testimonials

Our experience has been excellent. The team of professionals that make up Zion allows us to develop our projects with the greater fluidity since their support in the legal, administrative and accounting fields are of the highest quality.

“

Guillermo Jouvin Arosemena

GENERAL MANAGER - ETINAR S.A.

My experience with Zion Administradora de Fondos y Fideicomisos S.A. has been very positive from day one because of their commitment and professionalism. As a client one seeks the utmost security and neatness of a trust wich Zion manages to offer that by being proactive and dynamic. Being up to date with the entire legal and regulatory environment, as well as market conditions, gives the peace of mind of a complete advice to develop projects with trust tools with agility.

“

Ing. Luis Neme Macchiavello

PRESIDENT - Idílica S.A.

Lat20 works with Zion for several years now and we are pleased with their quality of services, their availability as well as their proactivity. Zion gives us the level of comfort that Lat20 needs in order to provide trade finance financing to exporters in Ecuador. It is a real pleasure working with them.

“

Raymonf Guillem

CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, NEW YORK

Investment Funds

What is a managed investment fund?

An investment fund is a savings instrument that brings together a large number of people who want to invest their money.
The fund pools the money of this group of people and a managing entity (the Fund Manager) invests it in a series of assets such as shares, fixed income securities, and other securities (including other investment funds).

What is a trust and fund administrator?

They are Corporations that are constituted under an established corporate purpose, which is to manage Investment Funds, as well as fiduciary businesses.
They also represent International Investment Funds and act as issuers in securitization processes.

Which institution regulates a fund manager?

The entity that controls the Mutual Fund Administrators is the Superintendence of Companies, and who regulates them is the Intendance of the Securities Market. The Administrator constantly sends information to the Superintendence, since this is the way in which this control entity can verify the operation and movements of the Administrators.

Who participates in an investment fund?

In an Investment Fund, the following take part:

The unitholders or clients, who are the persons who invest their money in the Fund.
The Fund Administrator, which is the company or authorized entity in charge of managing all the money contributed by the participants.
The Financial Market, Stock Market and Capital Market, where the Securities that make up the Fund’s Portfolio are acquired.

Who invests in a investment fund?

Any natural person, legal entity (duly represented) and duly legalized associations can participate in the Investment Funds. It is not necessary to have a large amount of money to invest, since there are funds of various types and there is always one that fits the needs and savings (or investment) capacity of the client.

What is an investment portfolio?

Also called Investment Portfolio, it is a selection of documents or securities that are quoted in the stock market and in which a person or company decides to place or invest their money.

The investment portfolios are integrated with the different instruments that the investor has selected. To make his choice, he must take into account basic aspects such as the level of risk he is willing to take and the objectives he seeks to achieve with his investment.

What are fiduciary businesses?

They are those acts of trust by virtue of which a person delivers to another person one or more specific assets, transferring or not the ownership of the same so that the latter may fulfill a specific purpose with them, either for the benefit of the grantor or of a third party. If there is a transfer of the ownership of the assets, the trust will be called a mercantile trust, which is not present in the case of fiduciary assignments, also instrumented with the support of the rules relating to the mandate, in which there is only the mere delivery of the assets.

What is a fiduciary assignment?

What is a commercial trust?

By means of the commercial trust contract, one or more persons called constituents or settlors transfer, temporarily and irrevocably, the ownership of movable or immovable tangible or intangible assets, which exist or are expected to exist, to an autonomous patrimony, endowed with legal personality so that the trust and fund management company, which is its trustee and in such capacity its legal representative, may comply with the specific purposes established in the incorporation contract, either in favor of the constituent itself or of a third party called beneficiary.

What are the advantages of a commercial trust?

An estate separate from the estate of the trustee.
Constituted for the fulfillment of a particular purpose.
They only guarantee the obligations derived from the trust or its execution.

Who invests in a trust agreement?

TRUSTOR : The person who transfers the assets to the trust.

TRUSTEE: A company expressly authorized to have such capacity.

BENEFICIARY: The person for whose benefit the trust is constituted. The Settlor may be the Beneficiary at the same time.

Can business trusts of different nature be constituted?

The commercial trust allows the constitution of autonomous assets with assets of very diverse nature: movable and immovable, tangible or intangible, that exist or are expected to exist, which makes the trust business a highly complex activity that requires for its administration very particular knowledge and skills that must be used by the entities authorized to perform this work.

How many types of trust exist?

The modality of trusts depends on the object and purpose instituted in the contract, which are not necessarily unique, so there may or may not be a trust business with a unique modality. For classification purposes, the following may be mentioned: Guarantee, administration, real estate, investment, and securitization processes.

What are the causes for termination of a commercial trust?

The following are causes for termination of the commercial trust or the fiduciary assignment, in addition to those provided for in the constitutive contract:

a) The fulfillment of the purpose established in the contract;

b) The fulfillment of the conditions;

c) The fulfillment or failure of the resolutory condition;

d) The fulfillment of the contractual term;

e) The absolute impossibility of complying with the purpose established in the constitutive act;
f) Executed judgment issued by a competent judicial authority or arbitration award, in accordance with the law;

g) The rescission of the commercial trust contract, provided that it does not affect the rights of the incorporator, of the adherent incorporators, of the beneficiary, of the creditors of the commercial trust or of third parties; and,

h) The bankruptcy or dissolution of the trustee, provided that there is no substitute.