Trust is a kind of property management system, and its core content is "entrusted to manage money on behalf of others". It refers to the act that the principal entrusts his property rights to the trustee based on his trust in the trustee, and the trustee manages or disposes in his own name according to the wishes of the principal, for the benefit of the beneficiary or for a specific purpose. There are three parties in the trust relationship, namely the principal, the trustee and the beneficiary. Among them, the trustee manages and disposes of the property in his own name. Among them, the meaning of property right includes: 1, the actual right to use the property; 2. The right to benefit from property income; 3. Power to implement property management; 4. Right to dispose of property.
2. What are the types of trusts?
According to the nature of trust purpose, trust is divided into private trust and public trust. Trust established for private purposes belongs to private trust, and trust established for public purposes belongs to public trust. Private trust can be divided into business trust and non-business trust. A commercial trust is a trust established by an individual or a legal person who entrusts a commercial trust institution with property management for the purpose of property appreciation. Non-operating trust is not only a civil trust mentioned in the trust law, but also a trust established by an individual to raise, support, support and handle the estate, and any non-profit business entrusted with the management of property. Public trust is a trust established for the purpose of developing public welfare undertakings, and the trust property can only be used for public welfare undertakings. China trust law includes public trust and private trust, covering all kinds of trust activities.
Judging from the trust theory and the development experience of foreign trust industry, the functions of trust industry mainly include property management, financing, coordinating economic relations, social investment and serving social public welfare undertakings.
Third, the trust industry, with its unique functions different from other financial institutions, firmly occupies an important position in the financial institution system of modern countries and has won the reputation of "financial department store" with its rich functions. But it must be clear that although the trust industry has many functions today, its original function-property management function is its basic function, and other functions are born on the basis of this function.
(A) property management functions
Property management function refers to the function that the trustee entrusts to manage or handle the property, that is, "entrusted by the trustee to manage the industry and manage the wealth on behalf of others", which is the basic function of the trust industry. What the modern trust industry is engaged in, whether it is money trust or physical trust, belongs to the application of property management function, and its theoretical support is modern property right theory. Under this function, the trust industry, as a trustee, must issue loans or invest according to the requirements of the principal or the specific projects designated by it, so as to benefit the principal or beneficiaries. Moreover, all the income from the trust property belongs to the beneficiary, and the trust institution can only charge the corresponding handling fee according to the contract.
Financing function
The financing function means that the trust industry, as an important part of the financial industry, has the function of regulating the surplus and deficiency of funds, and acts as a credit intermediary to raise funds for a country's economic construction and regulate supply and demand. Under the condition of commodity monetary economy, a considerable amount of property exists in the form of monetary funds, so the management and application of these trust properties are inevitably accompanied by the financing of monetary funds. On the surface, this function of trust industry is similar to credit, but it is actually qualitatively different: in terms of financing objects, trust not only finances, but also melts things; In the credit relationship, trust embodies the multilateral relationship among the principal, the trustee and the beneficiary; In the form of financing, realize the combination of direct financing and indirect financing; In the form of credit, trust has become a combination of bank credit and commercial credit. Therefore, trust financing has obvious advantages over credit financing.
(C) the function of coordinating economic relations
The function of coordinating economic relations refers to the function of the trust industry to handle and coordinate the economic relations between the transaction subjects and provide them with trust and consulting services. Because there is no transfer of ownership, it is different from the first two functional forms. In modern economic life, the inherent incomplete information and the opportunistic behavior tendency in the memory of the trading subject make the transaction cost more and more expensive. Therefore, in order to reduce the transaction cost and weaken the opportunistic behavior of the counterparty, the transaction subject usually needs to know the economic information related to its operation, such as economic policy, technical feasibility, the counterparty's credit standing, business ability, payment ability, business style, market price, interest rate, exchange rate and even living habits. Trust institutions act as "guarantors", "witnesses", "consultants" and "intermediaries" through their business activities, providing economic information and economic security for the trading subjects.
(4) Social investment function. It refers to the function of trust industry to participate in social investment activities with the help of trust business. The development and extension of trust business is inevitably accompanied by the appearance of investment behavior. Only when trust institutions enjoy the right to invest and have appropriate investment methods can their property management functions have a reliable foundation. Therefore, it is a common practice for trust institutions to carry out investment business in many countries in the world. The social investment function of trust industry can be embodied by trust investment business and securities investment business. In our country, trust and investment business has been the most important business since the 1979 trust institution resumed, which can be seen from the fact that most trust institutions in our country have been named as "trust and investment companies". Therefore, the social investment function can be positioned as one of the auxiliary functions of China's trust industry, but this function must be used and exerted in accordance with the requirements of the trust principle.
(five) the function of serving social welfare undertakings. It refers to the function that the trust industry can serve clients who wish to donate or fund social welfare undertakings to achieve their specific purposes. With the development of economy and the improvement of social civilization, more and more people are keen on academic, scientific research, education, charity, religion and other public welfare undertakings, and have donated money or set up foundations. However, they generally lack the management experience of donating or raising funds, and hope that the public welfare undertakings they enthusiastically support can continue, so they have the desire to cooperate with trust institutions to handle public welfare undertakings. When the trust industry uses funds for public welfare undertakings, it generally adopts safe and less risky investment methods, such as choosing national debt as the investment target. When trust institutions carry out public welfare-related business, the fees are generally low, and some even provide free services without charging any fees.
To sum up, the conclusion is that the trust system is a property transfer and management system, and the essence of the trust industry is a property management institution. Therefore, the functional orientation of China's trust industry should be: mainly focusing on property management, supplemented by financing, supplemented by coordinating economic relations, social investment and serving social public welfare undertakings.