Mr. Patton: Fiducial was started in the 1970s by one man, Christian Latouche, who had a vision of building a network of accounting and financial services offices. This network originated in Europe, and prior to the late 1990s they entered the US market. Upon coming to the US market they began to try to expand on their network of offices to become one of the largest or predominant players in the US market.
TWST: You're Director of Financial Services, so could you describe that
aspect of the company for us?
Mr. Patton: In the traditional environment there are clients being
serviced by this person and that person, whether it be a CPA firm doing
their taxes, an investment advisor or a Morgan Stanley, in a traditional
banking relationship. We try to pull together or deliver these services
in an integrated fashion. There are a million wire houses out there,
many CPA firms, accounting firms, etc. The difference between us and
them is we try to service the client from a higher financial platform,
and by that I mean if you and I are playing tug-of-war, it's much easier
if you and I are on one side pulling against no one. It's a lot easier
to win that game and to meet the goals of the client, rather than having
a five-way rope. The accountant is here, the investment person is here,
an insurance person is here, a banker is here, and another lender is
here, so we're not all pulling against each other. With the client in
the middle, all you would do is pull him apart with everybody pulling
against each other. At the end of the day, the information they get from
all these people from a multitude places will confuse them at best. What
we try to do is deliver these financial services in an integrated
fashion.
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